Abstract

Dysphagia is a common problem in acute stroke patients and it increases the risk for aspiration, which predisposes the patient to complications such as pneumonia. Screening and identification of dysphagia prior to any oral intake is a Joint Commission National Quality Measure for all patients admitted with acute stroke. A standardized method, recognized by the institution, performed by a health care professional evaluating the patient’s ability to swallow prior to food, fluids and medications is required for safe care of the stroke patient. One validated instrument used at the study’s institution to identify a patient’s risk for aspiration is the Bedside Dysphagia Screening (BDS) tool. The study looked at documented compliance of dysphagia screening by the bedside nursing staff using the BDS tool. Compliance with BDS documentation before any oral intake in patients admitted with the diagnosis of acute stroke was 75% in 2016 and 68% in 2017 prior to intervention. The national bedside dysphagia screening documentation compliance benchmark is 85%. The purpose of this process improvement project was to develop an electronic version of the existing paper bedside dysphagia screening tool as a process to improve documented compliance in patients 18 years old and older admitted through the emergency room with the diagnosis of acute stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic). Over the eight week period of implementation, the intervention improved the compliance with documented BDS by bedside nurses to 79%. The electronic version of the BDS tool, developed because of this project, has been implemented across all the hospitals settings within the study organization.

Publication Date

6-15-2018

Presented At:

13th Annual BHSF Research Conference

Content Type

Poster

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Open Access

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