Mouth care on ventilator patients

[nightshift82]

We have currently finished a trial using products from Sage. I liked the covered yankeur but the tooth brush was too big, some patients later complained of the wash feeling dry after and the ointment for the lips and inside the mouth left a film. I have seen some vendors with ?Biotein? wash that dentist's use. Is anyone using products that they really think are great? We may just need to give it another try.

Thanks for any advice:confused:

[SWEnfermera]

My only experience has been with the Sage Products. Kimberly-Clark also makes an oral care product. When we were developing our VAP prevention protocol I wanted to trial their product, but I couldn't get past our purchasing agent since we already contracted with Sage. If you do get a chance to try the Kimberly-Clark product let us know what you think.

http://www.kchealthcare.com/productpromosite/Kimvent/www/index.asp?action=ProductDetails&id=3828

[lucky1RN]

We use Sage exclusively for our vented pts. I don't like the toothbrush either...I use it once a day in the am and then stick to the foam tips the rest of the day. Unless of course someone has really funky teeth...then I do to town with those brushes! You're right about the moisturizer leaving a film. I only use it in the mouth and use vaseline for the lips. You can also try using suction while you apply the moisturizer...or mix the moisturizer and cleanser AND suction? Maybe that wil minimize the residue in the mouth? I tend to not care too much about the residue because it seems like everytime I turn around I'm cleaning their mouth out anyway.

[Babs0512]

I like the foam tips, I think the fact that it is hooked to suction is a fab idea, cudos to whoever thought of it!

[nightshift82]

We just finished our trial with Kimberly Clark. I liked the Yankuer it is self cleaning:yeah:which is great but you have to attach the handle each time. It is not all one peice and it comes apart. The regulator is just an on/off switch and does not have the of control that the Sage Yankuer. The toothbrush is not as big as the Sage but not much substance(plastic and flimsy). The antiplaque washes and lip/oral mucosa balm seem about the same. Sage of course came back and showed us the new products that are all one peice. We had the same issues with the handle coming off with the old Sage products. So I think we will trial it. Those of you who were helping me may have been using their new system. We had all the peices from Sage before so if someone threw out the Yankuer because they didn't like it you couldn't use the tooth brush etc. because it attached to the Yankuer handle. This is what was happening also with the KImberly Clark peices because they all attach to the handle of the Yankeur. Getting staff to use it is 3/4 of the battle!

[SWEnfermera]

Thank you Nightshift for the feedback on your trial. What we found to be helpful to get staff to comply with the oral care regimen was 1) a lot of education and 2) assign a nurse champion to audit on each shift. Peer pressure works better than threats from the manager or educator.

Compliance with an oral care routine should be seen by nurses as an opportunity for us to favorably affect outcomes for patients. If just one nurse breaks the Q 4 hour oral care regimen, then all efforts by everyone else goes down the drain. We shouldn't let this opportunity to show the community and colleagues what "good nursing care" can do pass us by.

[nightshift82]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions:redbeathe