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Aim: Nurses' skills and confidence in providing oral care to patients play important roles in healthcare. Studies have proved that peer‐to‐peer learning and assessment can help improve nurses' skills and confidence. However, no study has investigated it using an objective assessment checklist. This study investigated an oral hygiene practice training program for nursing students. It focused on their oral healthcare skills, confidence, and perspectives regarding implementing an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Methods: A pre‐ and post‐survey of 97 nursing students from a nursing school in Japan was conducted as a peer‐to‐peer oral health education training program that included an assessment and performance checklist. Results: Confidence in performing and assessing oral care significantly improved after attending the program. Furthermore, the changes were significantly greater in the developed program than in the training program without the checklist. The mean total assessment scores (0–25) of the first, second, third, and fourth participants in the four‐student groups were 22.1, 23.4, 23.9, and 24.1, respectively. The mean scores of the second, third, and fourth participant groups were significantly higher than that of the first participant group (p <.01). Fifty‐two positive and 58 negative comments were received regarding the implementation of the program with professional assessments and the checklist. The most common positive comment mentioned that the evaluation by professionals improved oral care learning and skills. Conclusions: This study developed a program to improve nursing students' confidence and oral care delivery skill building in an OSCE‐style delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study sought to investigate the current status and faculty members' perceptions of oral care education in Bachelor of Nursing curriculums in Japan. Method: Data were gathered through a questionnaire survey of 196 participants, who were faculty members in charge of oral care education in the basic, adult, gerontological, and home nursing fields, from 295 nursing schools that offered Bachelor degrees in nursing across Japan. Results: The quantitative data showed that 38.5% of the participants worked for less than 5 years as oral care educators, only 15.5% taught oral care in perioperative wards, only 62.2% used an oral care training simulator, and less than 30% believed that training in the prevention of oral diseases should be enhanced. From the descriptive responses, this study identified such problems as the inability of students to perform student‐on‐student and patient‐based oral care training owing to the risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission, and the lack of teaching materials, time, and human resources, and cooperation with other nursing fields and health professionals. Conclusions: This study revealed several problems in oral care education in the Bachelor of Nursing curriculums in Japan. To tackle these challenges, this study suggests the development of an interdisciplinary course that unifies oral care education in nursing fields, in order to promote collaborative oral care education and to improve nursing students' knowledge and skills of oral care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]