Author(s)

Sara Mohamed Ibrahim¹, Amal Mohamed Mudawi^2*, Osama Omer³

¹Department of Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Al-Neelain University, Khartoum, Sudan.
²Department of Prevention and Community Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
³Department of Restorative Dentistry, Dublin Dental University Hospital, University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

The aim of this study was to describe the intensive care unit (ICU) nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and practice of mouth care for their patients. This is a cross sectional hospital based study. A total of 154 ICU nurses were randomly selected from seven governmental hospitals in Khartoum state and were invited to take part in this study. 97.4% of ICU nurses had high knowledge of the importance of mouth care for ICU patients and similarly for the priority of mouth care. However, only 20% of nurses were found to apply good practice. 64.5% of the nurses received training in mouth care provision, and (81%) indicated that further training would be beneficial. The oral care practice of ICU nurses ranged between average among 57% and poor among 23%. The study highlighted the need for setting of ICU protocols and adoption of advanced training for ICU nurses.

Oral Health, Intensive Care Unit, Nurses’ Knowledge

Ibrahim, S. , Mudawi, A. and Omer, O. (2015) Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Oral Care for Intensive Care Unit Patients. Open Journal of Stomatology, 5, 179-186. doi: 10.4236/ojst.2015.57023.