A report of the preventive action of the aspiration-related pneumonia by deglutition of meal, as researched by our center-based team

Abstract

Pneumonia became the third leading disease-caused death according to the survey of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare conducted in 2011. It was reported that more than 50% of hospitalized cases of pneumonia were aspiration-related. In our center, there were a lot of patients who suffered from this particular condition of aspiration-related pneumonia. Therefore, in 2014, a deglutition team was organized to study aspiration-related pneumonia with the hopes to prevent it.

First, we included the number of patients of past aspiration-related pneumonia. From that result, the alliances with regional welfare institutions and our center were very crucial to the prevention of aspiration-related pneumonia. In addition, in our center, the evaluation system of oral care was insufficient. Based on these problems, we carried out 1) the creation of the flowchart based on the intraoral evaluation scale, 2) the holding of the deglutition study session with the regional welfare institutions, and 3) the survey for dysphagia in the special elderly nursing home. As a result, the extraction standard of the patient who needed oral care became clear by the flowchart based on the intraoral evaluation scale. The members in the regional welfare institutions were enlightened by the deglutition study session. It was recognized from the survey that the needs for a specialized deglutition evaluation was high. As well as our center, we will start a concrete action for the prevention of aspiration-related pneumonia based on regional alliances in the future.