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Testing an oral assessment guide during chemotherapy treatment in a Swedish care setting: a pilot study
Author(s) -
ANDERSSON PIA,
PERSSON LENA,
HALLBERG INGALILL RAHM,
RENVERT STEFAN
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2702.1999.00237.x
Subject(s) - medicine , oral medicine , oral cavity , oral hygiene , dentures , saliva , nursing assessment , intensive care medicine , dentistry , medline , political science , law
• Oral complications are common in patients with haematological malignancies who undergo chemotherapy treatment. A pilot study including 16 haematological patients was carried out to evaluate the oral status using an Oral Assessment Guide (OAG) and to test the reliability of the OAG. • The oral assessments were made daily by registered nurses at a Department of Internal Medicine in Sweden. Once a week a dental hygienist made the oral assessments independent of the registered nurses in order to provide data for calculations of inter‐rater reliability. • All patients had varying degrees of alterations in the oral cavity, especially in the mucous membranes, teeth/dentures and gums. The inter‐rater agreement between the nurses and the dental hygienist was good for saliva and swallow, and moderate for voice and gums. • Assessments to detect alterations in the oral cavity afford the opportunity for early and individualized interventions and may decrease the risk of oral infections. It is necessary to train the nurses to ensure high levels of reliability in the oral assessments. The OAG seems to be a reliable and clinical useful tool for assessing the oral cavity status and determining changes.