Original Paper
Differences of Awareness of Nursing Related to Dysphagia between Certified Nurses and Registered Nurses
2008 Volume 12 Issue 3 Pages 178-186
Details
2008 Volume 12 Issue 3 Pages 178-186
The purpose of this study was to compare the differences of awareness of nursing related to dysphagia between certified nurses and registered nurses．
【Subjects】The subjects were 64 nurses (41.0%) who participated in one meeting of the national conference for professionals in 2007.
【Methods】The self-reported questionnaire was distributed before the meeting with voluntary informed consent for participation in the study, and was collected after the meeting. The contents of the questionnaire included characteristics of subjects, caring for patients with dysphagia, cooperation with other professionals, participating in a nutrition support team (NST), performance of oral care and clinical assessment related to dysphagia, necessity and desire for educational support, and so on. The relationship between the two groups (whether a license as a certified nurse of dysphagia was held or not) and each item of this study were analyzed by the chi-square test using SPSS ver14.0.
【Results】The subjects were 63 females (98.4%) and 1 male. Of the total members, the average age was 38.1 ± 8.2 years and average working duration was 13.6 ± 7.2 years. There were 14 (21.9%) who held a license as a certified nurse of dysphagia and 50 who did not (78.1%). Comparing the two groups, the answer rate among the former group was significantly higher than that in the latter group for the following items：young patients, dehydration and edema in constitutional symptoms, vision and hearing in cognitive phase, gustation and smell, opening and closing of lips, chewing, sialorrhea, tongue movement, pronunciation using lips, apex linguae of tongue and tongue base, facial nerve, temporomandibular, glossopharyngeal, findings of hypoglossal and vagus nerve, pronunciation [i:], adaptation of PAP and PLP in oral preparatory and oral phase, swallowing time, distance, time and pitch of thyrolaryngeal upward movement, and forward movement of the jaw in the pharyngeal phase. Over 95% answered that educational support was necessary.
【Conclusion】 Nursing related to dysphagia is a necessary skill for registered nurses at bedsides. The results suggested that the difference in performance of observation and evaluation was affected by educational background. Dysphagia training of nurses is a future task.
