Dental Hygienists' Practice in Perioperative Oral Care Management According to the Japanese Dental Hygienists Survey 2019

Abstract

Perioperative oral care management is effective in the prevention of postoperative complications, and dental hygienists play an important role. The aim of this study was to elucidate the practice and substantial role of dental hygienists in perioperative oral care management. The Japan Dental Hygienists Association conducted a survey of the employment status of Japanese dental hygienists in 2019. Questionnaires were distributed to all 16,722 members, and 8932 were returned (collection rate: 53.4%). A total of 3560 dental hygienists were working at dental clinics and 1450 (38.2%) were performing perioperative oral care management. More than 90% of them implemented conventional oral care practice. Less than half of the dental hygienists implemented treatment concerning oral functions. Only 9.9% of dental hygienists recognized shortened hospital stay as an effect of perioperative oral care management. Dental hygienists who implemented both nutritional instruction and training of swallowing function or mouth rinsing instructions recognized the shortened hospital stay effect. Overall implementation of perioperative oral care management led to shortened hospital stay. Implementation of perioperative oral care management required knowledge and skills related to systemic health conditions. A stepwise educational program is necessary for perioperative oral care management to become commonplace for dental hygienists.

Keywords: dental hygienist; oral care practice; perioperative oral care management.

Figure 1

Item response curve and item information curves for the items concerning perioperative oral management. (A) Treatments of perioperative oral care management, (B) self-assessed perioperative oral care management and (C) participation in a medical team. Ability, the scale of the X-axis, represents the weighted score of the total rate of implementation. An item response curve or item information curve with a backward direction indicates that the item was frequently implemented. In contrast, an item response curve with a forward direction indicates that the item was rarely implemented. Steep item response curves and high item information curves indicate that when these items were implemented, other items were easily implemented.

Figure 1

Item response curve and item information curves for the items concerning perioperative oral management. (A) Treatments of perioperative oral care management, (B) self-assessed perioperative oral care management and (C) participation in a medical team. Ability, the scale of the X-axis, represents the weighted score of the total rate of implementation. An item response curve or item information curve with a backward direction indicates that the item was frequently implemented. In contrast, an item response curve with a forward direction indicates that the item was rarely implemented. Steep item response curves and high item information curves indicate that when these items were implemented, other items were easily implemented.

Figure 2

Biplots of treatments and self-assessed effects (A) and treatments and participation in a medical team (B). Red plots correspond to the treatment of perioperative oral care management. Navy plots correspond to the self-assessed effect of perioperative oral care management. Closely located plots were highly coincident.

Figure 3

Decision trees used to determine processes and effects leading to a shortened hospital stay: (A) treatment that led to a shortened hospital stay; (B) self-assessed effects of perioperative oral care management that led to a shortened hospital stay. Subjects who did not answer for the item of shortened hospital stay were excluded from the analysis.