Objectives To investigate registered nurses’ awareness and implementation of oral health care in patients who are hospitalized in general wards or intensive care units (ICUs) in South Korea. Methods This research was performed as a descriptive survey of 149 nurses working in nine general hospitals with at least 100 beds in major Korean cities. Results Approximately half (40.9%) of the survey respondents reported providing oral health care for hospitalized patients but that relevant protocols were not available at most hospitals or wards (89.5%). Nurses working in an ICU were significantly more likely to provide oral health care than those working in general wards (83.9% vs 15.1%; P < .001). Most respondents (83.2%) were aware of the importance of providing oral health care for hospitalized patients; however, the proportion considering that such care should be provided by dental hygienists was greater than that considering it should be provided by nurses (36.4% vs 26.0%; P < .001). Agreement that oral health care should be provided for hospitalized patients by dental hygienists was highest in nurses working in ICUs (53.3%; P < .001). Conclusions According to this survey, oral healthcare provision is generally low in hospitalized patients and differs between ICUs and general wards. Most respondents considered that dental hygienists should provide oral health care for hospitalized patients. There is an opportunity for nurses and dental hygienists to work collaboratively towards development of an evidence‐based protocol for oral health care in hospitalized patients.

Background Professional oral care in the intensive care unit may reduce the incidence of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia, which increases the patient’s mortality rate. This study aimed to develop a competency for professional oral hygiene care of endotracheally-intubated intensive-care patients. Methods First, we developed a competency draft by reviewing the literature on oral hygiene care of patients in the intensive care unit. Next, we developed expert validity test questionnaires using this draft and conducted expert validity tests twice on 18 experts. We determined competency as a content validity index of 0.8 or more and received expert additive opinions about competency through an open-questionnaire expert validity test paper in this methodology study. Results The content validity index ranged from 0.8 ~ 1.0 for all items. The competency of ‘professionalism’ comprised 2 sub-competencies with 7 behavioral indicators. ‘POHC preparation’ comprised 3 sub-competencies with 10 behavioral indicators. ‘POHC implementation’ comprised 3 sub-competencies with 6 behavioral indicators. ‘POHC evaluation’ comprised 2 sub-competencies with 8 behavioral indicators. Lastly ‘Cooperation among experts’ comprised 3 sub-competencies with 7 behavioral indicatiors. Conclusions To provide patients with high quality oral hygiene care, these competencies should be implemented, and oral hygiene care professionals and related medical personnel should form a cooperative system.

Background This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the relationship between sleep habits and oral disease symptoms in adolescents. Methods Among 62,276 adolescents who participated in the 13th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2017), we selected a total of 54,766 adolescents (age, 12–18 years; male, 49.9%) for the final analysis, after excluding those who did not report their sleep duration. The 13th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey data were obtained from a stratified, multistage, clustered sample. Independent variables included general characteristics, oral health behavior, sleep types, sleep duration, and sleep quality; dependent variables comprised oral disease symptoms. Sleep was categorized according to bedtime astype A (bedtime < 1 a.m.) and type B (bedtime ≥ 1 a.m.). Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results After adjusting for all covariates, adolescents with type A sleep had a higher risk of toothache on chewing (OR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.02–1.15) than adolescents with type B. Adolescents who slept for 6 h or less each night had a higher risk of pain in the tongue and buccal mucosa (OR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.18–1.54), gingival pain, and bleeding (OR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.19–1.45) than those who slept for more than 8 h. Adolescents with low quality of sleep had a higher risk of toothache or throbbing (OR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.60–1.81), toothache on chewing (OR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.65–1.82), and halitosis (OR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.41–1.59) than those with high quality of sleep. Conclusions Our findings indicate that some oral symptoms are related to sleep duration and quality. It is essential to inculcate good sleeping habits in adolescents by emphasizing the effects of inadequate sleep duration and quality.

Objectives The purpose of the present study was to analyse the effects of working posture, physical balance and work accumulation on shifts in plantar pressure in dental hygienists, by measuring REBA, which evaluates working posture, and plantar pressure, which evaluates physical balance. Methods This study was conducted on 24 dental hygienists currently working in dental clinics. The ergonomic assessment method of the Rapid Entire Body Assessment was used to evaluate working posture in the dental hygienists, and a Gait Analyzer was used to measure plantar pressure. Results The subjects’ mean REBA score was 4.96 ± 1.04 points, and 87.5% of the subjects showed poor working posture, with a REBA score of at least four points. Among subjects with a REBA score of four points or more, seven of the eight parts of the sole of the foot showed significant differences in plantar pressure between the right and left feet (P < 0.05). When we examined changes in plantar pressure over a week, pressure increased on the left side, and in particular, for subjects with a REBA score of four points or higher, pressure increased in the left foot and in the anterior right foot. Conclusions Most of the dental hygienists in this study showed poor posture during working. Subjects with poor posture at a level requiring intervention showed differences in plantar pressure between the right and left feet. Inappropriate posture can cause musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, it will be necessary to prepare internal and external measures to maintain proper working posture in dental hygienists, including education, exercise, improvement of the working environment and improvement of ergonomic equipment and devices.

Background Patient safety culture is a core factor in increasing patient safety, is related to the quality of medical service, and can lower the risk of patient safety accidents. However, in dentistry, research has previously focused mostly on reporting of patient safety accidents. Dental professionals’ patient safety culture must therefore first be assessed, and related factors analyzed to improve patient safety. Methods This cross-sectional study completed a survey on 377 dental hygienists working in dental settings. To assess patient safety culture, we used a survey with proven validity and reliability by translating the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS) developed by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) into Korean. Response options on all of the items were on 5-point Likert-type scales. SPSS v21 was used for statistical analysis. The relationships between workplace factors and patient safety culture were examined using t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests( p < 0.05). Results The work environment of dental hygienists has a close relationship with patient safety. Dental hygienists working ≥40 h/week in Korea had a significantly lower for patient safety grade than those working < 40 h/week. When the number of patients per day was less than 8, the safety level of patients was significantly higher. And significant differences were found depending on institution type, institution size. Conclusions In order to establish high-quality care and patient safety system practical policies must be enacted. In particular, assurance in the quality of work environment such as sufficient staffing, appropriate work hours, and enough rest must first be realized before patient safety culture can easily be formed.

This study aims to identify the differences in the determinants that influence self-rated oral health (SROH) among Korean and American adults aged 20 years or older and the differences in objective oral health status between Korea and the United States. It included 13,068 Koreans and 5569 Americans who participated in the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the 2017–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. All analyses were conducted using the SPSS 25 program. The 39% of Koreans and 27.7% of Americans rated their oral health as “poor”. The mean SROH score was lower in Korea (2.66) than in the US (3.15). Conversely, objective oral health was better among Koreans. Further, an analysis of the differences in the predictors of SROH between the two countries confirmed that there were significant differences in age, household income, education level, insurance type (none), type of smoking, self-rated health, and decayed teeth index. Government-led projects or policy-based changes that can improve objective oral health status are needed to boost SROH in Korea, and subsequent studies should examine other objective oral health indices (e.g., periodontal disease) as well as differences in sociocultural backgrounds between countries.

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Research on workplace harassment initially emerged in Sweden, 1 and similar research efforts began to emerge in the United Kingdom and Germany in the early 1990s. 2 Related laws and concepts began to emerge in the 2000s, and workplace harassment was increasingly recognized as a social issue of public interest. 3,4 While each country has slightly different workplace harassment definitions, in 2003, the International Labour Organization (ILO) 4 defined workplace harassment as 'violence and harassment' that involves behaviours, practices or threats 'that aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual, or economic harm'.Workplace harassment can take various forms 4 and can also lead to hostile work environments, which, in turn, can result in serious