Centennial Place - Implementing the Oral Health Best Practice Guideline

Nestled in the rural community of Millbrook is Centennial Place Long-Term Care (LTC)  home with 128 residents. 

In 2016, the Director of Care, Tracey Roy, assessed  the provision of oral care for residents. Based on feedback from family, residents and staff she determined that oral care is challenging particularly among residents with cognitive impairments (approximately 80% of the resident popu-lation). These residents tend to decline or demonstrate responsive behaviours during oral care.  As a result of her findings on the current state of oral care, Tracey decided that  oral care must be a priority for the next year. Her vision was for all residents to receive optimal oral care using a holistic approach.

In the fall of 2016, Tracey formed an inter-professional oral care team. Staff regis-tered and participated in the 2016-17 Oral Care Community of Practice (CoP).  The goal of the oral care CoP was to support implementation the RNAO Oral Health: Nursing assessment and intervention (2008) Best Practice Guideline (BPG).

As part of the Oral Care CoP, Tracey invited Connie Wood, the LTC Best Practice Coordinator to support completion of the oral health gap analysis. The team reviewed their current practices and recommendations in the Oral Health BPG. The process assisted the team to identify opportunities for improvement, select priorities and develop an action plan for practice change.