Knowledge and Practice of Health Professionals in the Management of Dysphagia

Eduardo Sánchez-Sánchez, Ylenia Avellaneda-López, Esperanza García-Marín, Guillermo Ramírez-Vargas, Jara Díaz-Jimenez and Francisco Javier Ordonez
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Eduardo Sánchez-Sánchez: Internal Medicine Department, Punta de Europa Hospital, Algeciras, 11207 Cádiz, Spain
Ylenia Avellaneda-López: Internal Medicine Department, Punta de Europa Hospital, Algeciras, 11207 Cádiz, Spain
Esperanza García-Marín: Internal Medicine Department, Punta de Europa Hospital, Algeciras, 11207 Cádiz, Spain
Guillermo Ramírez-Vargas: Internal Medicine Department, Punta de Europa Hospital, Algeciras, 11207 Cádiz, Spain
Jara Díaz-Jimenez: Faculty of Education Sciences, University of Cádiz, 11519 Puerto Real, Spain
Francisco Javier Ordonez: Human Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of Cádiz, Plaza Fragela s/n, 11003 Cádiz, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-10

Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine healthcare providers’ knowledge and practices about dysphagia. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out based on a self-administered and anonymous questionnaire addressed to healthcare providers in Spain. A total of 396 healthcare providers participated in the study. Of these, 62.3% knew the definition of dysphagia as a swallowing disorder. In addition, up to 39.2% of the participants reported that they did not know whether the EatingAssessmentTool (EAT-10) dysphagia screening test was usedin their own clinical settings. Similarly, up to 49.1% of them did not know the ClinicalExaminationVolume-Viscosity (MECV-V) method. Nearly all participants (98.8%) reported that thickeners must be used forall liquids administered to patients. A higher percentage of respondents based the choice of texture on patient’s tolerance (78.2%) rather than on the MECV-V result (17.3%). In addition,76.4% of the professionals had witnessed a bronchoaspiration; after it, 44.4% ( n = 175) of them reported the appearance of pneumonia, and 14.5% ( n = 57) the death of the patient ( p = 0.005). The participants revealeda moderate/low knowledge ofthe definition, diagnosis, and clinical management of liquid dysphagia, which indicates some room for improvements.

Keywords: bronchoaspiration; dysphagia; MECV-V; pneumonia; health professionals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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