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Brett Kelman of Kaiser Health News

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JAMES MASSIE, AN ARMY VETERAN AND A PATIENT AT THE SALEM VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER IN SALEM, VIRGINIA, GETS HIS TEETH BRUSHED BY NURSING ASSISTANT TERESA QUARLES IN JUNE. THE SALEM VA REPRIORITIZED ORAL CARE TO COMBAT NON-VENTILATOR HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA IN 2016, AND THE PROGRAM HAS SINCE EXPANDED ACROSS THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION AND IS OFTEN CITED AS A MODEL FOR ALL HOSPITALS./ROSAIRE BUSHEY/KHN

Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia Is Killing Patients. Yet There Is A Simple Way to Stop It.

Hospital patients not getting their teeth brushed, or not brushing their teeth themselves, is believed to be a leading cause of hundreds of thousands of cases of pneumonia a year in patients not on a ventilator.
Jul 12, 2022