Oral health plays second fiddle in palliative care: an interview study with registered nurses in home healthcare.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Oral health is crucial to the experience of well-being, and symptoms from the mouth are common at the end of life. Palliative care aims to identify and treat symptoms early to avoid unnecessary suffering and is thus an important part of nursing in home healthcare. The aim of this study was to illustrate the professional reflections of registered nurses about oral health amongst patients in palliative care, who are being cared for in a home healthcare setting.

Results

The results showed oral health in end-of-life care, to be an area marked by responsibility and ethical considerations. This was seen in all four partly overlapping themes that emerged through the analysis: Oral health is easily overlooked in palliative care, Oral health is everybody's but in reality n

SUBMITTER: Gustafsson A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8579523 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature