Oral health care awareness among nursing students in an Indian school - an experimental study

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of a course on oral health care awareness among third-year undergraduate nursing students. This experimental study included all the students from the third year nursing undergraduate course (n=42) during the academic year 2102 -13. The intervention for the study included lectures, videos & live demonstrations on models and patients for oral health care. The effectiveness of the 3hr course was ascertained with a pretest and posttest 30-item questionnaire. The groups did differ significantly at the post-test, yielding highly significant results (p<0.001) indicating the improvement in the students’ competency in oral health knowledge and skills after implementation of a course on oral health care. Oral Health Care Awareness amongst Nursing Students has a strong impact on improving the students’ competency in oral health knowledge and skills. Introducing the teaching and training of the essential components of oral health care in a nursing school is a prerequisite for good practice.