Evidence-Based Educations Programs as They

¶ … evidence-based educations programs as they relate to oral care patients and the prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia. The actual problem defined in the article is whether or not proper oral care is crucial in preventing ventilator patients from getting pneumonia. In specific, the evidence points toward the use of a toothbrush as being more effective in the removal of plaque, but most nurses prefer to use oral swabs which are shown to be less effective.

The question formulated is: Should nurses move toward using toothbrushes on ventilator patients which has been shown to aid in the reduction of pneumonia, or should they continue to use oral swabs which are more convenient, but less effective? The article does identify that a need for change is necessary. Procedures were previously outlined regarding how the oral care of the ventilator patients should be handled. This was through the actual brushing of teeth.

Research as well as published data from numerous hospitals showed that the risk of pneumonia was decreased in ventilator patients when proper oral care was administered. In addition, because of the findings of the research, evidence-based posters were placed in all of the hospital units demonstrating the best oral care practices for these patients. However, the nurses in this study still preferred using oral swaps and as a result, the rate of pneumonia in these patients did not decrease. The change agents in this study are the nurses.

However, they were not informed that the way in which they provided oral care to the patients would be studied. Oral assessments were done unannounced and it was discovered that judging by the condition of the patient's mouths, swabs were still being used despite the evidence provided. The target audience would more than likely be the patients since they are the ones who will either win or lose based on what the care the nurses provide.

The stakeholders are the patients because if care is followed based on the evidence provided, their risk of catching pneumonia is decreased. Nurses and other hospital staff are also stakeholders because the hospital will ultimately be judge on the success rate or decrease in certain diseases contract by its patients. The people living in the community in which the hospital exists can also be considered stakeholders because they base their opinion of the hospital on various things such as infection rates.

There are numerous journal articles dealing with evidence-based nursing practices as it relates to many different illnesses. Articles on this topic can easily be found in such databases as Science Direct, CINAHL, PubMed as well as many others. Even though the articles may deal with various illnesses, they all agree on the definition of evidence-based practice. In short, evidence-based practice is where research is used in the decision making of a specific group of patients.

In the article used for this paper, the patients happen to be on ventilator machines and the research done deals with what is the best oral care for these patients in order to prevent the onset of pneumonia. The hospital used for the study already had protocols in place to prevent patients from getting pneumonia. Published data was provided and posters were placed in all units. However, the nurses chose not to follow the protocols set forth. This is the reason the study was conducted.

The nurses confessed that they felt oral care was more of a comfort to the patients than a preventative measure to pneumonia. The really did not take the time to learn that improper oral care in these patients lead to the excessive growth of bacteria which eventually found its way down the respirator tube and into the patient's lungs causing pneumonia. Once the nurses went through formal evidence-based program and followed the proper protocol, the rate of ventilator pneumonia decreased by 50%.

Providing proper training in addition to the posters displayed helped to reinforce the significance of proper oral care for their patients. The nurses adapted to the protocols because they were formally educated which removed barriers and their perceptions of the true reason behind proper oral care.

Even though evidence was presented and posters were hung, the main points behind actually brushing the patient's teeth at least twice a day as opposed to using oral swabs twice daily were lost on the nurses because they had not gone through an actual evidence-based program that explained how an improperly treated mouth can gather harmful bacteria responsible for pneumonia.

Once the decision was made to educate the nurses beyond the postings on the units, the nurses began to understand the importance of the situation and began to comply with it. The intensive care nurses were the first group of healthcare workers to be educated and then the change was implemented among other.