Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111363

Kavita P. Ahluwalia, DDS, MPH¹, Mildred Ramirez, MA, PhD², Dionne T. Otey, MPH¹, Tanya Darlington, DDS¹, and Steven M. Albert, PhD, MSc³. (1) School of Dental and Oral Surgery, Columbia University, Division of Community Health, 630 West 168 St, New York, NY 10032, 212-304-7184, kpa8@columbia.edu, (2) Research Division, Hebrew Home for the Aged, 5901 Palisade Avenue, Riverdale, NY 10471, (3) Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, PH-19, 630 West 168th St., New York, NY 07666

Oral diseases are among the most common chronic conditions experienced by older adults, and these conditions and their sequelae can have profound impacts on a Quality of Life in a number of domains, including eating, speaking, smiling, and social interactions. Furthermore, oral diseases are increasingly being associated with conditions such as diabetes, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Although good daily oral care is a vital to the prevention and management of oral diseases, oral care is often neglected in the homecare agencies. Since older adults receiving home care may have cognitive and/or functional disabilities that make performance of daily care difficult, it is important that daily oral care delivery is monitored and regulated in the homecare system. A pre-post quasi-experimental study designed to assess the potential utility and effectiveness of an oral care intervention for daily caregivers (nurses and home health aides) suggests that oral health related knowledge and practices vary by homecare agency, and that receipt of oral health training is not standardized or regulated. Furthermore, daily care plans do not specify oral care procedures that take into account clients' medical and functional needs. Preliminary data from this study, in which nurses were trained to train home health aides to provide appropriate daily oral care, indicate that nurse training can result in significant improvements in knowledge, and that systems changes designed to facilitate the monitoring of daily care delivery can result in improvements in outcomes.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Discuss the relationship between oral health and general health and well-being in the elderly
• Describe the elements of an effective oral health training program for home care nurses
• Recognize the importance of organizational level monitoring and regulation to ensure daily oral care delivery

Keywords: Home Care, Health Workers Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.