Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare

Abstract Background Oral health is crucial to the experience of well-being, and symptoms from the mouth are common at the end of life. Palliative care aims to identify and treat symptoms early to avoid unnecessary suffering and is thus an important part of nursing in home healthcare. The aim of this...

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Autores principales:	Anna Gustafsson, Johanna Skogsberg, Åsa Rejnö
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	BMC 2021
Materias:	Community care Content analysis End of life Home healthcare Interviews Oral health Special situations and conditions RC952-1245
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a9593955599e4553b6a4ea8d0bca4aa1
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a9593955599e4553b6a4ea8d0bca4aa12021-11-14T12:11:57ZOral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare10.1186/s12904-021-00859-31472-684Xhttps://doaj.org/article/a9593955599e4553b6a4ea8d0bca4aa12021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-021-00859-3https://doaj.org/toc/1472-684XAbstract Background Oral health is crucial to the experience of well-being, and symptoms from the mouth are common at the end of life. Palliative care aims to identify and treat symptoms early to avoid unnecessary suffering and is thus an important part of nursing in home healthcare. The aim of this study was to illustrate the professional reflections of registered nurses about oral health amongst patients in palliative care, who are being cared for in a home healthcare setting. Results The results showed oral health in end-of-life care, to be an area marked by responsibility and ethical considerations. This was seen in all four partly overlapping themes that emerged through the analysis: Oral health is easily overlooked in palliative care, Oral health is everybody’s but in reality nobody’s responsibility, Patient integrity can be an obstacle for oral health, and Focus on oral health is urgently needed. The mouth is often not included as part of the daily basic care routine, by the registered nurses and the home healthcare staff, until the patient is near end of life. Moreover, neither does the patient tell about symptoms from the mouth. The interpreted whole indicates that the registered nurses had a bad conscience about not doing what they are actually responsible for and ought to do. Conclusion The oral health of patients at the end of life risks being forgotten or falling between the cracks, due to the nurses’ scattered tasks and unclear delimitations between their, and other professionals’ responsibilities. The responsibilities of registered nurses are also ethically demanding, since their intent to respect the patient’s integrity could mean that in some cases the patients does not allow them to help with oral health. To reduce the risk that oral health is overlooked, clearer demarcation and guidelines on the division of responsibilities are required. Routines that clearly implement early and recurring oral health assessments in home healthcare as well as continuing education updates on oral health and oral care are also needed.Anna GustafssonJohanna SkogsbergÅsa RejnöBMCarticleCommunity careContent analysisEnd of lifeHome healthcareInterviewsOral healthSpecial situations and conditionsRC952-1245ENBMC Palliative Care, Vol 20, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Community care Content analysis End of life Home healthcare Interviews Oral health Special situations and conditions RC952-1245
spellingShingle	Community care Content analysis End of life Home healthcare Interviews Oral health Special situations and conditions RC952-1245 Anna Gustafsson Johanna Skogsberg Åsa Rejnö Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare
description	Abstract Background Oral health is crucial to the experience of well-being, and symptoms from the mouth are common at the end of life. Palliative care aims to identify and treat symptoms early to avoid unnecessary suffering and is thus an important part of nursing in home healthcare. The aim of this study was to illustrate the professional reflections of registered nurses about oral health amongst patients in palliative care, who are being cared for in a home healthcare setting. Results The results showed oral health in end-of-life care, to be an area marked by responsibility and ethical considerations. This was seen in all four partly overlapping themes that emerged through the analysis: Oral health is easily overlooked in palliative care, Oral health is everybody’s but in reality nobody’s responsibility, Patient integrity can be an obstacle for oral health, and Focus on oral health is urgently needed. The mouth is often not included as part of the daily basic care routine, by the registered nurses and the home healthcare staff, until the patient is near end of life. Moreover, neither does the patient tell about symptoms from the mouth. The interpreted whole indicates that the registered nurses had a bad conscience about not doing what they are actually responsible for and ought to do. Conclusion The oral health of patients at the end of life risks being forgotten or falling between the cracks, due to the nurses’ scattered tasks and unclear delimitations between their, and other professionals’ responsibilities. The responsibilities of registered nurses are also ethically demanding, since their intent to respect the patient’s integrity could mean that in some cases the patients does not allow them to help with oral health. To reduce the risk that oral health is overlooked, clearer demarcation and guidelines on the division of responsibilities are required. Routines that clearly implement early and recurring oral health assessments in home healthcare as well as continuing education updates on oral health and oral care are also needed.
format	article
author	Anna Gustafsson Johanna Skogsberg Åsa Rejnö
author_facet	Anna Gustafsson Johanna Skogsberg Åsa Rejnö
author_sort	Anna Gustafsson
title	Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare
title_short	Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare
title_full	Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare
title_fullStr	Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare
title_full_unstemmed	Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare
title_sort	oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a9593955599e4553b6a4ea8d0bca4aa1
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Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare

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