Nutrition, Hydration, and Dysphagia: Assessment and Screening

Presented by Pamela Masters-Farrell and Cindy Nehe

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Video Runtime: 27 Minutes; Learning Assessment Runtime: 28 Minutes

Determining when and if a patient needs a swallow screen can be critically important to a patient’s overall recovery. Nurses play an important role in communicating with the interdisciplinary team if the patient is demonstrating signs and symptoms of aspiration. This course gives participants an overview of what a bedside dysphagia evaluation entails and why a Modified Barium Swallow may be necessary. This course is applicable for nurses in acute care, post-acute care, long-term care, and home health care settings.

Meet your instructors

Pamela Masters-Farrell

Pam Farrell has worked, educated, and participated in research in nursing, particularly rehabilitation nursing, since 1975. She has been responsible for management and staff development for rehabilitation facilities from 1985 to the present and is currently designing and publishing multimedia computer-based training programs…

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Cindy Nehe

Cindy Nehe has been a Speech Therapist since 2002. She has worked in a variety of settings including education, skilled nursing, outpatient, home health, acute inpatient rehabilitation, and acute care. Cindy is currently in management for an acute care hospital that specializes in cardiac and trauma care. Evaluating and…

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Chapters & learning objectives

1. Who Gets Screened and Why

Nurses need to recognize the importance of identifying who needs a swallow screen and to clearly articulate why the screen is necessary. Early identification of patients at risk for aspiration is critical in the recovery process and to prevent complications.

2. SLP Evaluation

This chapter identifies how a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) completes a Bedside Dysphagia Evaluation, including what recommendations mean to the nurse. These recommendations can include diet recommendations, liquid recommendations, Modified Barium Swallows, Nothing by Mouth status, and safe swallowing strategies. This is important information for nurses as they spend the most time with patients and caregivers.

3. Modified Barium Swallow Studies

In this chapter, participants will observe Modified Barium Swallow studies including normal and abnormal swallows.

4. Ongoing Assessment

Nurses are the team members who spend the most time with the patient and are instrumental in continued assessment. Patients’ statuses can change (for better or for worse) and the nurse needs to be able to identify when to voice a concern about safe swallowing. This could include time to re-evaluate due to signs or symptoms of aspiration or time to re-evaluate for an upgrade of the patient’s diet.

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