Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MARCH 2012
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Oral hygiene is the condition or practice of maintaining the tissues and
the structure of the mouth. Oral hygiene includes brushing of the tongue and
teeth to remove food particles and residue, bacteria, and plaque; massaging
the gums with toothbrush, dental floss, or water irrigator to stimulate
circulation and foreign matter, and cleansing dentures and ensuring their
proper fit to prevent irritation (Mosbys Dictionary, 2007).
Elderly patients especially those who are unconscious, should be
provided nutrition through another route other than oral. The commonly used
artificial feeding for this patient is through NGT (Nasogastric tube).
According to a study conducted by Dr. Leibovitz (2007), the lack of
mechanical clearance of the mouth through chewing and swallowing puts
NGT-fed patients at risk for acquiring GNB (Gram-Negative Bacteria) such as
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, aside for the fact that this bacteria can adhere to
plastic tubes like the one used in NGT.
At times like this, oral hygiene is a critical part of preventing the
acquisition of such opportunistic microorganisms, not only that it contributes
on the health, well-being, and comfort of the patient (Cape, 2007).
But most often oral care which is a part of the basic activity of living is
widely neglected and oftentimes results to short-term complications such as
Pneumonia and long term effects such as dental decay (Woodrow, 2006)
The Surgeons general report on Oral Health in America (2000) noted
that poor oral hygiene puts elderly patients susceptible to general systemic
health problems like cardiovascular diseases, poor nutrition, and respiratory
infections.
Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is among other infections
usually acquired during ones stay in the hospital. It is considered as the
leading cause of disease prevalence and death cases in the Intensive Care
Units (ICU) of hospitals (Bercault and Boulain, 2001).
Ganz (2008) claims that nurses could directly affect the decrease in the
incidence of VAP through effective oral care. Based on her study, nurses of
different units practice oral care in many different techniques using different
products and they have n uniform methods of oral assessments. She
believes that the variability in following different techniques may be due to
different in training and the culture aspects of different country. She also
stated that AACCN produced a practice alert which recommends the use of
current evidenced-based oral care technique in the care of critically ill which
includes of the use of toothbrush and chlorhexidine gluconate as the
solution.
its importance and effect on the patients health. These are the reasons why
the researchers decided to conduct a study regarding oral care.
Research Questions
1. Using the oral assessment tool, what is the status of the mouth of:
a) Experimental Group (tongue depressor)
b) Control group (toothbrush)
2. How many colonies of microorganisms are present in the oral cavity before
and after intervention?
a) Experimental Group (tongue depressor)
b) Control group (toothbrush)
3. What are the types of microorganisms are present in the oral cavity before
and after intervention?
Nurses
As nurses, they play a vital role in promoting care and comfort to their
clients. With this study, they will acquire new knowledge about oral care and
enhance their skills in caring with clients. Furthermore, this study would
greatly help and enable them to discover the more efficient and safe
technique to be used on nasogastric clients for oral care in order to promote
good oral health maintenance while saving more time, energy and perform
more tasks.
Hospital Administrators
This study will be a big help to the hospital if one of the equipment is
better in performing oral care to the elderly patients with nasogastric tube.
The one that will be proven more effective can be used as a standard
operating procedure in the hospital.
Nursing Education
Institutions involved in the education of nurses and other allied health
professionals would benefit from this study because they would be able to
make use of the research data in the improvement of their educational
standards when it comes to teaching oral care and practices among
students.
Student nurses
This study will give students an early innovation in oral care practices
that can be used in their related learning experiences in the hospitals. This
will also provide information of what the best method to be use in oral care
when they become nurses in the future.
Family members
This study would enable them to learn a certain method or technique
to be used with their family member as a tool for oral care and would know
the important points to remember in order to accomplish the technique
easily and in a safe away. This study would also help them recognize some
effects or consequences of poor oral health care.
Future Researchers
This study will enable them to understand further the techniques or
methods used in elderly patients with nasogastric tube for oral care. They
will also be able to use this study in the future for comparison with other
studies and as a reference material as well.
of
the
number
of
colonies
and
identifying
the
type
of
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter presents different related literature and studies which
provide information on oral care of patients with NGT. All of these have a
relationship to the present study.
some related literature and studies and to analyze the available resources
that could be utilized most effectively.
This literature review supplements background information related to
oral care of patients with NGT.
COLONIES OF MICROORGANISMS
Oral microorganisms can include fungal, protozoal, and viral species. A
variety of organisms in the microenvironment of the oral cavity adhere to the
teeth, the gingival sulcus, the tongue, and the buccal mucosa. Each site has
a unique way of allowing the organisms to establish their residency. The
normal flora in healthy individuals maintains similar patterns. When local or
systemic disease process or concomitant use of medications alters this
overall pattern, atypical organisms begin to predominate and some normal
GNB
in
oral
cavity
of
patients
with
nasogastric
tube.
semiquantitative culture was used to measure the bacterial load for each
bacterial group by counting the number of bacterial colonies on each plate.
The following grading was used for each of the study organisms: 0, no
growth; 1, up to 10 colonies; 2, 10 up to 20 colonies, and 3, more than 20
colonies. The mean bacterial load was calculated as the mean of the scores
accorded for the colonies count of each patient.
ELDERLY PATIENT
Aside from that, oropharynx of NGT-fed elderly patients may provide
such an ecosystem and promote the colonization of P. Aeruginosa. This
colonization could be due to several factors such as the papillary structure of
the dorsum of the tongue, the lack of mastication and swallowing
(eliminating
P.Aeruginosa,
their
a
mechanical
well-known
cleansing
effect),
biofilm-producing
and
the
tube
microorganism
itself.
may
be
ORAL CAVITY
The oral cavity has been already considered as a potential reservoir for
pathogenic microorganisms for a long time. This site of the body has hard
non-shedding surfaces for microbial colonization, which allows accumulation
of extracellular products and formation of some biofilms that may serve as
culture media for bacteria and contribute to the development of anti-biotic
resistance. Ecologic condition within the mouth may vary and change the
ecosystem, facilitating the growth of pathogenic organisms. (Leibovitz, 2003)
TOOTHBRUSH
According to Vex (2010), Older adults may need to use electric
toothbrushes and other special brushes to clean between teeth. People with
arthritis or other limitations to movement may need modified toothbrushes
with thicker handles. Dryness of the mouth with age, our salivary glands
may naturally produce less saliva leading to dryness of the mouth. More
often, the cause may be the medicines we take (for example for high blood
pressure or depression). Dryness of the mouth can cause discomfort with
dentures, bad breath and tooth decay. Older adults may see an increase in
tooth decay due to reduced saliva. Saliva helps to wash away the acids
produced by bacteria in plaque - acids that attack the tooth structure and
cause decay. Adults may also be prone to decay because of exposed root
TONGUE DEPRESSOR
According to DeKeyser, Ganz et., al.(2008), the most commonly used
supplies in oral care were gauze pads followed by tongue depressors and
toothbrushes. Often nurses attach gauze pads to a tongue depressor to use
for oral care -a practice that substitutes for the use of sponges or swabs
attached to a stick.
Components of Colgate toothpaste and tongue depressor
There are several components of Colgate toothpaste and Plax.
According to Gardner (2011), Colgate toothpaste contains Triclosan which
kills a variety of bacteria and provides 12-hour protection.
Akande (2004) compared the efficacy of three mouth rinse: (1)
Macleans,
(2)
Colgate
Plax,
and
(3)
Listerine.
Macleans
contain
Synthesis
With the previous research, it was stressed that oral cavity is a good
reservoir for microbial growth, especially to persons who are deprived of the
normal function such as mastication and swallowing. Such conditions are
common to unconscious patients fed through NGT. Cases associated with
these conditions are those of elderly patients suffering from disabilities such
as CVAs situated in ICUs and are mechanically ventilated. Due to their
disability, these patients cannot perform oral care by themselves, which is a
basic activity of daily living. With factors such as oral cavity, being a good
reservoir, inability to perform oral hygiene, decreased mastication, and the
presence of NGT, these patients are at risk for infection.
This study aims to evaluate the effect of toothbrush and tongue
depressor in the status of the mouth and, the number of colonies and type of
microorganisms present in the oral cavity. It differs from the previous studies
conducted in the sense that it focuses on the use of toothbrush and tongue
depressor with a commonly used toothpaste and mouth rinse of the same
brand. There is limited number of studies conducted abroad. Aside from that,
previous researchers did not compare the effect between toothbrush and
tongue
depressor.
They
focused
more
on
the
identification
of
the
microorganism while this study focuses not only in identifying the type but
also the number of colonies of microorganisms present in the oral cavity, and
the status of the mouth. Lastly, there is no study conducted in the Philippines
regarding the importance of oral care which draws interest from the
researchers with oral care given low priority.
Conceptual Framework
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
DEPENDENT
VARIABLE
METHODS
IN ORAL
CARE
>Tongue
Depressor
>Toothbrush
>Number of
colonies of
microorganism
Experimental Group
O2
Controlled Group
O2
O1
O1
> Type of
microorganism
present
> Status of the
mouth
assessment tool.
There is no significant difference between toothbrush and tongue
depressor when it comes to the type of microorganisms found in the
Definition of Terms
after two days of incubation using the naked eye to determine the effect of
interventions compared.
Elderly patient
Operational definition: These are the subjects of the study aged 60-90 years
old, conscious and with NGT.
Oral cavity
Operational definition: Area of the mouth where sample for the colonies of
microorganism will be obtained for bacterial cultivation.
Tongue depressor
Operational definition: a gauze pad will be attached to tongue depressor and
soaked in a 15 mL Colgate Plax solution that will be tested in soft and hard
palate of the mouth used as an oral care in Experimental Group.
Tooth brush
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter provides the discussion of the research design, the design
used; Population and sample, the inclusion and exclusion criteria, how the
subjects are selected; research locale, where will the research study be
conducted; the data collection procedures and the statistical treatment of
data.
Research Design
The design used is a quasi experimental non equivalent control group
before and after design, which involves an experimental treatment group and
a control group of subjects observed before and after implementation (Polit,
et. Al.,2008). The purpose of this is to evaluate the effect of these two oral
care tools in the status of the mouth, and the type and number of colonies in
the oral cavity.
Two groups will be evaluated in the study, the experimental group
which is the use of tongue depressor with gauze pad soaked in a colgate plax
solution and the control group which will use toothbrush with colgate
toothpaste.
Research Locale
This research study will be conducted at Ospital ng Sampalok, a
Secondary Hospital. The data will be collected from conscious elderly
patients with NGT at the Medical-Surgical ward of the hospital. The
researchers have been exposed within the said location and saw that many
patients in the Medical-Surgical Ward have Nasogastric Tube and most of
them are geriatric patients.
Data Collection Procedure
The researchers will obtain approval from the institution. Then, obtain
informed consent from the patient. Inform the patient of what will be done
before, during and after the procedure. Before collection of microorganisms
in the oral cavity, oral assessment will be done first to determine the
condition of the mouth using the oral assessment tool. Using the oral
assessment tool, the mouth of the patient will be assessed and scored
conforming to the criteria indicated in the tool. The areas to be assessed are
as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
mouth.
6. Mucous membrane and gingiva- observe appearance of the tissue.
7. Teeth or denture- observe appearance.
group. One hour after oral care, sample will be collected in the same
way/manner for comparison. After the intervention, the sample will be
taken to the laboratory for bacterial cultivation. Swab method procedure
will be used to cultivate the sample. The researchers will then count the
number of colonies of microorganisms and classify it accordingly. The
t=
x 1x 2
s21 s22
+
n1 n2
Where:
x1 = mean for Experimental Group 1
x2 = mean for Experimental Group 2
= Hypothesized difference between the population means
n1 = number of subjects in Experimental Group 1
n2 = number of subjects in Experimental Group 2
s1 = standard deviation of experimental group 1
s2 = standard deviation of experimental group 2
be collected first thing in the morning and after patient had eaten breakfast
The study has been explained to me. I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND
THIS CONSENT FORM, ALL OF MY QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED, AND I
AGREE TO PARTICIPATE. I understand that I will be given a copy of this signed
consent form.
Signature of subject
Date
Signature of Witness
Date
Signature of Investigator
Date
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