口腔ケアにおける精神科看護師と歯科医師との連携の実態

The Present State of Collaboration between Psychiatric Nurses and Dentists concerning Oral Health Care

要旨

目的：口腔ケアにおける精神科看護師と歯科医師との連携の実態を明らかする．

方法：精神科看護師を対象に，口腔ケアにおける歯科医師との連携に関して探索的記述研究（質問紙調査）を行った．

結果：有効回答186名のデータを分析した．口腔ケアにおいて，精神科看護師の約85％が歯科医師連携の課題を持っているが，約35％が歯科医師とまったく連携していないことが明らかとなった．看護師経験年数が長いと歯科医師と連携する傾向や精神科看護師自身の口腔QOLが低いと歯科医師と連携する傾向があった．歯科医師と連携している精神科看護師の方が，機能的口腔ケアを十分と思う傾向にあった．看護実践力が高い精神科看護師の方が歯科医師と連携し，さらに歯科医師連携の課題を持っていた．口腔ケアの重要性を強く感じる精神科看護師の方が，歯科医師連携の課題を持っていた．

結論：本研究では，口腔ケアにおいて歯科医師連携の課題を持ちながら，連携できない精神科看護師の存在が明らかになり，連携に向けた取り組みの必要性が示唆された．

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to clarify the current state of collaboration between psychiatric nurses and dentists with regard to oral health care.

Methods: This study targeted psychiatric nurses for an exploratory descriptive assessment (questionnaire survey) concerning collaboration with dentists in oral health care.

Results: Valid response data from 186 individuals was analysed. While approximately 85% of psychiatric nurses had issues collaborating with dentists in the oral health care field, it was revealed that approximately 35% did not collaborate with dentists at all. Psychiatric nurses with a long history of work in the nursing field exhibited a tendency to collaborate with dentists, while those with low Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (QOL) tended to collaborate with dentists. Psychiatric nurses who did collaborate with dentists tended to believe that functional oral health was sufficient. Highly-skilled psychiatric nurses, who were more likely to collaborate with dentists, exhibited difficulties when attempting such collaboration. Psychiatric nurses who strongly believed in the importance of oral care also experienced difficulties in collaborating with dentists.

Conclusion: In this study, it became clear that while there are problems concerning collaboration among dentists in oral health care, psychiatric nurses who are unable to collaborate also exist. These results suggested a need for measures to encourage collaboration with dentists.