ORANGE Health

This research line is concerned with the research into oral care for older persons in oral care practice, vulnerable elderly people who need oral care at home and the development of the practice guideline for interprofessional cooperation on oral care for elderly people living at home.

Our research has shown that the awareness and implementation of the guidelines and the KNMT Practice Guide for oral care for older persons still needs to be greatly improved in oral care practices. In the coming months, we will make a plan on how we are going to do that. All ideas are welcome.The UMCG research into oral health among elderly people with cognitive challenges who visit a memory clinic is going well. There are already many participants and the results are promising. The first findings from this study will be published during the consortium meeting in June 2024. ACTA’s study on oral care for older persons in the home setting will start soon. Among other things, (cost) effectiveness, impact on quality of life and the reasons why older people do or cannot receive oral care at home will be examined. Researchers from Amsterdam, Groningen, Nijmegen and Utrecht are developing a practice guideline for interprofessional oral care for vulnerable older people living at home. With input from literature research, semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers and focus groups with general practitioners (and POH), pharmacists, oral care providers, home care and GGD employees, a draft of this guideline for interprofessional oral care has been drawn up. Through various cycles of implementation, testing and adaptation in practice, the concept will be adjusted and further developed into an effective guideline for vulnerable older people living at home. After that, the guideline will be used to support interprofessional collaboration. This design research will take place in 5 regions in the Netherlands. The contacts with the caregivers, but also with older persons are already promising!