Rev. Soc. Bras. Enferm. Ped.2020;20(2):66-72.
Oral hygiene of newborns in neonatal intensive care units
DOI: 10.31508/1676-3793202000010
Abstract
Objective:
To identify practices, beliefs and attitudes of professionals regarding the oral hygiene (OH) in newborns (NB) treated in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU).
Methods:
Descriptive and exploratory study, carried out in two NICUs in São Paulo. The data were collected through a questionnaire and submitted to descriptive statistical analysis.
Results:
42 professionals participated in the study. Of these, 92.8% reported performed OH in critically ill NB, comfort being the main reason (35.6%) and NB severity a main difficulty (27.5%) for this practice. The majority of professionals performed the OH once per shift, and disagreement that clean the oral cavity is an activity difficult to perform in intubated (41.4%) and non-intubated (75.6%) NBs.
Conclusion:
Most of the professionals perform the OH in critically ill newborns, mainly for the promotion of comfort, identifying as difficulty the RN gravity.
Keywords: Critical care; Neonatal nursing; Oral hygiene