Dysphagia Screening Tools Available to Nurses

Objectives
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Objectives
Introduction
Stroke is a major life-threatening disease that affects about 15 million people annually, with over 6 million of them dying and another 5 million developing a lifelong disability (Sivertsen et al., 2017). Dysphagia is a common condition that stroke patients experience and is a key risk factor for aspiration pneumonia. If aspiration pneumonia can be detected early, the risk of developing pulmonary complications and death can be significantly reduced (Sivertsen et al., 2017; Palli et al., 2017). According to Eltringham et al. (2018), national and international health guidelines recommend that acute stroke patients undergo dysphagia screening 4-24 hours after admission. However, as noted by (Sivertsen et al., 2017), there exists a gap between the recommendation and practice. In this sense, adherence to recommendations can be significant in addressing aspiration pneumonia. In a study by Palli et al. (2017), the researchers examined whether training nurses on dysphagia screening in patients with acute stroke had an impact on the risk of pneumonia. Apart from reducing the rates of pneumonia, Palli et al. (2017) also found that 24/7 screening of dysphagia reduced the length of hospitalization when compared to the standard testing during normal working hours only. A project intervention to determine whether early dysphagia screening in patients newly diagnosed with stroke reduces the risk of aspiration pneumonia is a worthwhile undertaking.
The practicum project will thus focus on early dysphagia screening. Specifically, the project will seek to answer the question: In newly diagnosed stroke patients, does early dysphagia screening help in reducing the risk of aspiration pneumonia?
Project Objectives
1. Student will develop a process improvement proposal about early dysphagia screening for presentation to key stakeholders, including nurses, physicians, and patients.
2. Student will develop a pre/post-test evaluation tool to gather the impact of early dysphagia screening.
3. Student will carry out a literature review on early dysphagia screening in ...