Effectiveness of a Nurse-Initiated Oral Care Protocol in Reducing the Incidence of Aspiration Pneumonia among Hospitalized Stroke Patients

Abstract

Existing research shows that aspiration pneumonia poses strong risks for stroke patients, mostly because they cannot maintain proper oral hygiene while dealing with dysphagia problems. The importance of oral care remains low within standard stroke management practices. Research demonstrates that nurse-led standardized treatment procedures decrease healthcare-associated infections such as pulmonary aspiration pneumonia through regular evidence-based practice application. This study evaluated a protocol for oral care implementation by nursing staff to determine its impact on reducing the incidence of pneumonia among stroke patients during hospitalization. The research used a pretest-posttest control group design format to conduct experiments at Saidu Teaching Hospital. The study included sixty stroke patients who received purposive selection methods followed by random distribution into two different groups consisting of thirty patients. The intervention group underwent planned oral care procedures using chlorhexidine cleansers with oral examinations and suctioning procedures, while the standard care procedures were provided to the control group. Research data on aspiration pneumonia occurrence and oral health scores measured in the participants at baseline and after seven days of intervention. SPSS version 26 served for statistical analysis, with p<0.05 establishing the significance threshold.

The rates of aspiration pneumonia were lower in the intervention group at 10.0% compared to 36.7% in the control group, with an associated p-value of 0.012. Mean oral health scores in the intervention group increased substantially from 6.5 ± 1.1 to 2.1 ± 0.9 (p<0.001), although the control group did not experience any major change. The results validate that stroke patients benefit from nurse-delivered oral care protocols, which decrease their chance of developing aspiration pneumonia. Medical authorities should adopt nurse-led oral care protocols as standard practice in nursing operations.