The HAPPEN study

This week, two of the three hospitals participating in the RCT evaluating the effect of improving oral care on the incidence of pneumonia commenced the trial. At this stage, this is background data collection, as part of the control phase. The third hospital will commence shortly.

We have also had results from one component of our Phase 1 work published, a national survey. In this work, we sought to describe current practices, barriers and facilitators, knowledge and educational preferences of registered nurses performing oral health care in the Australian hospital setting, with a focus on the prevention of hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP). The publication can be freely accessed here.

We are also finalising a paper for submission in which we conducted focus groups of registered nurses, exploring the findings from the survey in more detail.

The findings from both the survey and focus group, alongside our partners and consumers has helped us tailor and finalise the intervention for the RCT. One findings was the need for suitable products for patients to use, including some potential prompts (example image below).