Oral Care and Cancer: Assessing the Contribution of Training Healthcare Teams to Support the Oral Status of Patients Hospitalized in Palliative Situation

According to the French support and palliative care (RFS) Company, palliative care are active in a holistic approach to the person with a serious illness, progressive or terminal. Their goal is to relieve physical symptoms and other pain and take into account the psychological, social and spiritual suffering.

He consensus among caregivers to recognize the importance and maintaining good oral hygiene for patients treated for cancer at all ages of life, home and in hospital, and consider that the oral hygiene is an integral part of nursing, toilet and contributes to the health of patients. This is primarily a comfort for the person to have a healthy mouth, healthy with a clean mouth, but also a tool that meets all its features.

The feeding, respiration and communication are three closely related to the proper functioning of the oral cavity needs. Furthermore, cancer, various treatments, age are possible disturbances oral integrity. The nurse helped the caregiver has upstream of care, the role of counseling and prevention. However, a review of the oral and / or the establishment of procedures support oral hygiene status are largely neglected despite the existence of published recommendations. This is particularly related to lack of information provided and continuing education offered to carers and the lack of written procedures. Moreover, the limited literature on the subject limit the possibility of initiatives, the establishment of a procedure before relying on evidence-based practice. Measure 43 Cancer Plan I and the establishment of mobile units or palliative care teams and management of pain in Residential Care (especially CHU and Centres for the Fight Against Cancer [PBC] ) is an opportunity to implement an audit action.

This project is part of a research program in several steps. From November 2010 to August 2011, 260 patients (107 hommes/153 women), median age 64 years (19-88 years) were included. J2, a healthy mouth, moderately (dry mouth and / or dirty) or severely (fungal mouth and / or painful ulcerated and / or hemorrhagic) was altered respectively observed for 61 (23.5%), 139 (53.5%) and 60 (23.0%) patients. Traceability of this oral assessment is found in 10% of cases. The exit assessment was performed in 184 patients (46 deaths, 30 non-assessed), including 129 with a delay ≥ 5 days between J2 and output. The mouth on the output shows a healthy mouth, moderately and severely impaired in 33 (26%), 70 (54%) and 26 (20%) of these 129 patients, respectively. Thus, 27 (21%) patients showed deterioration in their oral condition during hospitalization: 13/31 (42%) for patients with a healthy mouth to J2 and 14/72 (19%) for those with a mouth moderately altered to J2. In contrast, 28/129 (22%) patients, including 13/72 (18%) and 15/26 (58%) respectively had a mouth moderately and severely impaired the initial assessment have improved access to oral output state .

Following this audit action, a tool Medical Assessment mouth has been prepared in collaboration with health care teams participating as well as recommendations for management of each type of mouth (concerning both hygiene as drug and non-drug measures), in agreement with those of learned societies, a plan of care by type of mouth care.