Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Language
English
Publication Date
9-1-2023
Journal
Surgical Infections Journal
DOI
10.1089/sur.2023.171
PMID
37695683
Abstract
Background: Although oral hygiene in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been shown to reduce hospital-associated infections, baseline and progressive oral health are often not reported because of lack of a standardized tool. The Oral Health Risk Assessment Value Index (OHRAVI) is a comprehensive oral assessment validated by dental providers. This study hypothesizes that non-dental providers can use OHRAVI in trauma ICU patients with minimal training and acceptable inter-rater reliability (IRR).
Patients and Methods: Dentulous adult patients in the ICU at a level 1 trauma center were scored, excluding those with severe orofacial trauma. The eight categories of the OHRAVI were scored 0 to 3 (best to worst) with summed total and index (average) score. Index scores 1 or less need routine oral care; greater than 1-2 require moderate care; and greater than 2-3 require extensive oromaxillofacial care. Inter-rater reliability was assessed by two to three raters with Krippendorff's α (≥0.80 for good and ≥0.667 for acceptable).
Results: Eighty-four ratings were completed across 34 patients, with 16 patients (47%) scored by all three raters. Ten patients (29%) had an index score < 1. The average index score for patients was 1.28 (median, 1.34; range, 0.63-2). Krippendorff's α for index score was 0.86. For individual categories, α ranged from 0.44 to 1, with six of the eight categories achieving an α ≥ 0.667.
Conclusions: With minimal training, non-dental providers were able to use OHRAVI with a good IRR for index score and an acceptable/good IRR for most individual categories. This novel, simple, comprehensive oral health score could help standardize oral assessment and facilitate future studies of peri-operative oral hygiene interventions.
Keywords
Adult, Humans, Oral Health, Reproducibility of Results, Cross Infection, Intensive Care Units, Risk Assessment, hospital-acquired infections, inter-rater reliability, oral health, oral hygiene, surgical intensive care unit, trauma
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
, "Poor Oral Health in Trauma Intensive Care Unit Patients: Application of a Novel Oral Health Score" (2023). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 148.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthdb_docs/148