Authors (including presenting author) :
Tong MY, Chan OL
Affiliation :
Medical & Geriatric, United Christian Hospital
Introduction :
In a Geriatric ward, assist old-aged patients to intake is one of the main duties of the care-related supporting staff. However, this work is challenging as dysphagia is common among geriatric patients. Dysphagia may lead to serious and life-threatening complications such as choking and aspiration pneumonia, which can be prevented by early detection of the condition, suitable meal arrangement and appropriate feeding techniques. Since certain care-related supporting staff expressed concern about their roles over the issue, a refreshment program was designed to strengthen their oral feeding techniques.
Objectives :
For all care-related supporting staff in the ward, 1.To reinforce their knowledge on the common causes, signs and symptoms of dysphagia of geriatric patients; 2.To strengthen their abilities on identify and handling emergency choking condition; 3.To prepare them to participate in careful hand feeding program in the future.
Methodology :
Pre- and post-questionnaires are done to assess the basic concept of the care-related supporting staff on areas including feeding technique, dysphagia and choking. Identical training sessions are given to all nursing supporting staff to refresh them about key concepts of feeding techniques and clarify common misconceptions. 4 areas are focused: 1) normal swallowing process, 2) changes in swallowing process in elderly, 3) proper feeding procedure for elderly, 4) dysphagia identification and choking handling.
Result & Outcome :
The refreshment program was carried out in 2018 4Q in an acute geriatric ward, with total 12 care-related supporting staff (2 HCAs and 10 PCAs) involved. In the pre-survey, all nursing supporting staff expressed different levels of worries on causing choking in elderly during the feeding process (58.3% often worry, 41.7% sometimes worry). Half of them believed there was room of improvement on their own feeding technique. After the training session, the care-related care supporting staff showed a gain in knowledge over the area. This was reflected by the overall correct rate of 18 related questions raised from 62.5% to 95.4%. Interaction between the care-related care supporting staff and the speaker enabled sharing of experience and clarification of common misconceptions. The participants had good responses towards the course. All of them agreed they had gain in the knowledge about elderly feeding and the ability of identifying dysphagia, which was coherent to the knowledge assessment result. With the gain in knowledge and sharing on handling of emergency condition in the course, 100% of them strongly agreed the training increased their confidence in the elderly feeding work.
Co-location with:
