Best Practices/Standards

This best practice guideline (BPG) Oral Health: Supporting Adults Who Require Assistance Second Edition replaces the RNAO BPG Oral Health: Nursing Assessment and Intervention, which was released in 2008. The purpose of this next edition BPG is to provide nurses, the interprofessional team and caregivers with evidence-based recommendations for the provision of oral care for adults (18 years of age and older) that will: (a) promote an interprofessional approach to providing oral care, (b) enhance the delivery of oral care interventions, and (c) ultimately lead to positive oral health outcomes for persons. 

The BPG focuses on providing oral care across health settings to adults who require assistance with oral care in a continuum that ranges from the set-up of oral care supplies to full physical assistance with oral care. This BPG provides recommendations to support the delivery of oral care—including appropriate supervision, prompting and assistance—while still advocating for the person’s independence and autonomy. 

This work is funded by the Government of Ontario.

The purpose of this Guideline is to present evidence-based recommendations that apply to the decisions and best practices of interprofessional teams working to assess and manage existing pressure injuries in people 18 years of age and above. This Best Practice Guideline (BPG) replaces the RNAO BPG Assessment and Management of Stage I to IV Pressure Ulcers (2007). It provides evidence-based practice, education and policy recommendations for interprofesssional teams across all care settings who are assessing and providing care to people with existing pressure injuries. Moreover, this Guideline refers to “pressure ulcers” as “pressure injuries.” This new terminology aligns with the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP).

This Guideline provides best practice recommendations in three main areas:

• Practice recommendations are directed primarily to the front-line interprofessional teams who provide care for people with existing pressure injuries across all practice settings.
• Education recommendations are directed to those responsible for interprofessional team and staff education, such as educators, quality improvement teams, managers, administrators, and academic institutions.
• System, organization, and policy recommendations apply to a variety of audiences, depending on the recommendation. Audiences include managers, administrators, policy-makers, health-care professional regulatory bodies, and government bodies.

Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. (2016). Assessment and Management of Pressure Injuries for the Interprofessional Team, Third Edition. Toronto, ON: Author. Retrieved from: http://rnao.ca/bpg/guidelines/pressure-injuries