PURPOSE
To investigate the effect of oral care either with normal saline or with tantum solution on the oral state of the patients in intensive care unit as well as the frequency of bacteria occurrence inside their oral cavities. METHOD: The study was performed from March thru May of 2003 on the nonequivalent control group non-synchronized quasi-experimental design. Forty subjects were selected for each group. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 10.0 Win. The pre-experimental homogeneity and post-experimental differences between the two groups were analyzed with t-test. RESULT: There was a significant difference in the oral cavity state between the experimental group that had used normal saline and the control group that had used tantum solution. CONCLUSION: Based on the results described above, it is considered that normal saline is more effective than the tantum solution for the oral care of the patients in intensive care unit.

The effects of the mouth care using cool normal saline on oral discomfort were investigated in 40 patients on chemotherapy. The subjects were divided into two groups, one was experimental group(N=20) in which the subjects were provided mouth care with cool normal saline, the other was the control group(N=20). The data was collected from June. 20 to Oct. 30 in 1998. Oral discomfort was measured by Self Reported Oral Discomfort Assessment Instrument developed by Jung(1995) and Oral Assessment Guide (OAG) Instrument developed by UNMC. Collected data were analyzed by means of frequency, percentage, standard deviation, chi-squre test, t-test. The results were summarized as follows: 1. 'The experimental group which recieved oral care with cool normal saline shoud be lower self reported oral discomfort on 3, 5, 7, 14 days after chemotherapy was supported (p=.025-.000). 2. 'The experimental group which recieved oral care with cool normal saline shoud be lower observational symptom oral discomfort on 3, 5 days after chemotherapy was not supported, but on 7, 14 days after chemotherapy was supported(p=.0011, 0.001). In conclusion, the patient who recieved oral care with cool normal saline showed the decrease in degree of oral discomfort of cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy. So oral care with cool normal saline had been judged the nursing intervention to improve oral discomfort of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.