Mouth Care Matters – In the Hospital

This section is for Nurses and care staff providing and supporting effective mouth care for all hospitalised patients. Daily mouth care in hospital should be paramount and considered an essential part of nursing care. Delivering or supporting good mouth care is imperative. It reduces the risk of infection such as Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), which in turn reduces the length of a hospital stay. It also ensures dignity and comfort for your patient.

The online training is for nursing and care staff providing or supporting mouth care for hospitalised patients.

The training programme is modelled on the national Mouth Care Matters 4 key themes:

  • Knowledge of the importance of mouth care and good oral health and links to general health and well being
  • Skills gained through training on how to carry out mouth care and assessment of the mouth
  • Tools needed to provide good mouth care
  • Support when necessary from doctors and dental staff

The role of the nurse and care staff is to provide and or support hospitalised patients with mouth care and this should be carried out as part of the inpatients personal care on a daily basis.

They will perform these tasks as part of their clinical duties and will include:

  • Gaining knowledge and skills in assessing, planning and providing and or supporting good mouth care
  • Accessing and carrying out a mouthcare assessment on admission to the hospital and produce a mouth care plan
  • Identify common mouth problems and treat accordingly using the recommended products
  • Support and or provide daily mouth care for non-ventilated or ventilated patients to prevent hospital aqcuired or ventilated accquired pneumonia.