Foundation for Quality Care’s “Mouth Care Without a Battle” Project Published in Journal of American Medical Directors Association

Innovative quality improvement project improves the quality of daily mouth care provided to nursing home residents.

The Foundation for Quality Care’s “Mouth Care Without a Battle” Project has been published in the Journal of American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA), Pragmatic Innovations. The article, Improving Evidence-Based Oral Health of Nursing Home Residents Through Coaching by Dental Hygienists, was authored by Lisa Volk RN, BPS, LNHA, Project Director, and Melony Spock AA, of the Foundation for Quality Care; and Philip D. Sloane MD, MPH, and Sheryl Zimmerman Ph.D. of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Click for article.

Good oral hygiene has an impact on the overall health of residents in long-term care. A “boots on the ground” project was developed that incorporates Mouth Care Without a Battle (MCWB), an evidence-based approach to person-centered daily mouth care, into 22 New York State nursing homes using a coaching model with part-time dental hygienists. The report discusses implementation of the quality improvement project, which improved the quality of daily mouth care provided to nursing home residents, as well as changed the knowledge and attitudes of the staff providing their care, all supported by the NYS Dental Hygienist Association and by regional dental hygienist coaches. The Foundation for Quality Care received a grant from the New York State Health Foundation to support the MCWB project.

JAMDA is the official journal of AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. It is the leading peer-reviewed publication for practical information and research directly applicable to healthcare professionals providing post-acute and long-term care (PA/LTC), as well as policy-makers, organizational leaders, educators, and advocates.

“This valuable program proved to be beneficial to residents’ quality of life,” said Lisa Volk, Project Director. “We hope that the coaching model we developed in MCWB will be replicated in more nursing homes as well as other sectors of healthcare.”