Because this issue of MCN is devoted to oral healthcare, my logical search for online resources and evidence-based practice began with the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) (http://www.guideline.gov/), which led me to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). Both of these sites have research-based information that all maternal-child nurses can use.
National Guideline Clearinghouse
The NGC is a database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines available for public use and is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US Department of Health and Human Services. The NGC defines a clinical practice guideline as a systematically developed statement to assist practitioners and patients make decisions about appropriate healthcare. Guidelines must be authored by professional organizations, government agencies, or healthcare organizations (an individual cannot submit a guideline), contain verifiable documentation of evidence, and be developed, reviewed, or revised within the last 5 years. Older guidelines are stored in the guideline archive. Guidelines can be submitted from outside the United States but must be written in English. Users can search for guidelines in many ways, including under health conditions, interventions, or the professional organization submitting guidelines. A comparison utility allows users to compare two or more guidelines. Guidelines can be viewed and printed as Web pages, Word documents, PDF documents, or PDA-based downloads. They may contain links to additional references, implementation tools, or Web sites of the guideline author. NGC offers a discussion list related to guideline development (NGC-L) and a weekly newsletter with NCG updates. This is a great resource!!
Click on "Frequent Searches" for guidelines organized according to Healthy People 2010 objectives, and click on the topic "oral health" to locate a number of guidelines, including infant and adolescent oral healthcare. The infant and adolescent guidelines outline recommendations regarding risk assessment, anticipatory guidance for pregnant women, mothers and the young patient, prevention, and interventions such as fluoride exposure and sealants. The guidelines list nurses as intended users and recommend content for all healthcare provider education curriculums. Correct citation for the infant guideline, according to the NGC directions, is as follows:
* National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC). Guideline summary: Clinical guideline on infant oral health care. Retrieved from http://www.guideline.gov
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
The NGC guidelines on infant and adolescent oral health are authored by the AAPD and contain links to the organization's Web site (http://www.aapd.org/) and the Caries Risk Assessment Tool (http://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guidelines/RS_CAT.pdf). The AAPD site offers many valuable resources for professionals and parents. These two guidelines and supporting references are available on the Web site (AAPD, 2004, 2005) along with additional policies and clinical guidelines. Users can access a short slide presentation (suitable for teaching heathcare professionals or parents) about the AAPD evidence-based oral health policy on "Dental Home" for children http://www.aapd.org/dentalhome/dentalhome.ppt).
For evidence-based oral healthcare, use the guidelines and resources on these sites!!
References