Abstract:
Background: Oral health is an integral part of the overall health and well-being. Nurses, as
primary members of the healthcare team, are positioned to play a significant role in providing oral
care. However, there are significant challenges that prevent nurses to effectively delivering the
oral healthcare.
Objective: To identify the possible challenges in providing effective oral healthcare by the nurses
at National Hospital Kandy
Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study conducted at the National
Hospital Kandy among 228 nurses who work in medical, surgical and intensive care units. A self
administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants. Data were analyzed with
SPSS 26.0 version.
Results: This study identified 77.6% (n=156) of nurses faced significant challenges in delivering
oral care. Patient-related factors and hospital-administration related factors were the main
challenges encountered by nurses. As patient related factors, patients' behaviors and physical
limitations (62.18%) were identified. As hospital-administration related factors inadequate access
to necessary instruments and materials (48.08%) was a key concern. Additionally, knowledge gaps
(37.82%), workload (35.90%), a lack of standardized guidelines (33.33%), insufficient staff
(28.21%), limited hospital-provided facilities (26.92%), time constraints (22.44%), perception of
expensive oral care equipment (14.74%), lower prioritization of oral care practices (12.82%), and
poor supervision (12.18%) mentioned as prominent challenges.
Conclusions: The nurses face patient related, healthcare professional related, and hospital
administration related challenges, which restricted them from performing standard as well as
effective oral care. Therefore, it is recommended to provide in-service training, awareness
programs, standardized protocols, provision of oral care instruments and materials to integrate oral
healthcare into routine patient care.
