Practicum Project in Dysphagia Screening

Assignment 5
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Assignment 5
To facilitate the implementation and evaluation of my practicum project in dysphagia screening, I needed to first identify the most suitable dysphagia screening tool, develop an evaluation tool, and provide learning/teaching materials for dysphagia screening among stroke patients.
After thorough research, I identified The Gugging Swallowing Screen (GUSS) as the most suitable dysphagia screening tool among three other tools that are available to nurses. The GUSS was deemed suitable because, in addition to providing an accurate assessment of dysphagia in stroke patients, it also provides dietary recommendations that match the level of dysphagia severity (de Jesus Oliveira et al., 2019). As such, nurses can use this tool to not only identify stroke patients with dysphagia but also ensure that patients receive food based on their scores on the level of severity and risk of aspiration.
To prepare nurses at the organization for the implementation of the practicum project, I identified training on dysphagia screening as one of the key objectives of the project. Specifically, this objective involved creating and delivering training to nurses about dysphagia screening among stroke patients to ensure that dysphagia screening became a common practice in stroke patient care at the organization. After preliminary analysis, I established that the nurses were aware of dysphagia screening but failed to perform a dysphagia assessment among stroke patients. They also did not know what the most suitable tool for dysphagia screening was and how to use it for the screening. To close this gap, I created some material that would teach them how to use the GUSS dysphagia screening tool.
The learning material first informed the nurses that early dysphagia screening among stroke patients using GUSS is important because it ensures that patients at risk of developing aspiration pneumonia are identified on time and are given the right nursing intervention (Teuchl et al. 2018). The material also highlighted the two main steps involved in the GUSS dysphagia test namely; indirect swallowing and direct swallowing. Indirect swallowing is the preliminary assessment and involves assessment through the clear...