Oral healthcare for older adults in Swedish municipal healthcare—a qualitative study of healthcare professionals’ experiences

TL;DR

This study explores how healthcare professionals in Sweden experience providing oral care to older adults, emphasizing the importance of relationships, knowledge, and collaboration.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the experiences and challenges of healthcare professionals in delivering oral healthcare to older adults in municipal settings.

Findings

Good relationships and mutual trust are essential for effective oral healthcare delivery.

Knowledge and experience influence how healthcare professionals adapt oral care to individual needs.

Collaboration and clear priorities are critical for successful oral healthcare provision.

Abstract

Oral health is multi-faceted and influences a person’s daily life, and numerous potential barriers and factors can challenge and pose barriers to good oral health. Shortages of healthcare professionals or incorrect care practices can be barriers to performing good oral healthcare. A knowledge gap has been identified in qualitative research on description of healthcare professionals’ experiences of oral healthcare among older adults in municipal healthcare.

To describe healthcare professionals’ experiences of oral healthcare among older adults in Swedish municipal healthcare.

The study employed a qualitative design guided by a secondary qualitative analysis method comprising inductive qualitative content analysis. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews with healthcare professionals.

Good relationships and mutual trust create the conditions for delivering good oral healthcare. Knowledge provides confidence and trust in performing oral healthcare, experiences and strategies influence the individual adaptation of oral healthcare, and priorities and collaboration influence oral healthcare provision.

The performance of oral healthcare is complex and cannot be achieved without establishing a relationship with the older adult who needs care. Oral healthcare includes prerequisites such as routines, sufficient time, work-time planning, and collaboration between healthcare professionals. Registered nurses positively experience opportunities to collaborate with other healthcare professionals regarding oral healthcare and are seen as leaders in the Fundamentals of Care and are sharing good examples of oral healthcare in palliative care.