Nurses’ knowledge of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
Background: Early identification of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia (OPD) using screening by nurses can prevent adverse patient outcomes in lower middle-income countries. Nurses are essential in the OPD management team and should ideally be able to screen and prioritise dysphagia management i...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AOSIS
2020-09-01
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| Series: | South African Journal of Communication Disorders |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/703 |
| _version_ | 1819091742276714496 |
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| author | Kerry Knight Bhavani Pillay Jeannie van der Linde Esedra Krüger |
| author_facet | Kerry Knight Bhavani Pillay Jeannie van der Linde Esedra Krüger |
| author_sort | Kerry Knight |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Early identification of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia (OPD) using screening by nurses can prevent adverse patient outcomes in lower middle-income countries. Nurses are essential in the OPD management team and should ideally be able to screen and prioritise dysphagia management in stroke patients.
Objective: The aim of this research was to describe nurses’ practices related to identification and management of patients with stroke-related OPD.
Methods: Qualified nurses from various healthcare levels in the Eastern Cape, South Africa were invited to complete a previously published hard copy survey on the signs and symptoms, complications and management of stroke-related OPD. A sample of 130 participants completed the survey.
Results: The mean scores of correct responses for each section were: 8.7/13 (66.7%) for signs and symptoms, 4.7/10 (47.3%) for complications and 3.8/7 (54.2%) for management practices. Statistically, there were no differences between the levels of healthcare for the signs and symptoms section and the complications section. Regarding management of OPD, secondary-level (S) nurses demonstrated significantly better knowledge than primary-level (P) and tertiary-level (T) nurses (S–P: p = 0.022; S–T: p = 0.010). Secondary-level nurses also scored significantly higher across all three sections (S–P: p = 0.044; S–T: p = 0.025) than those at the other levels.
Conclusions: The study found that nurses across all levels of healthcare had only moderate knowledge regarding identification and management of stroke-related OPD. Interdisciplinary collaboration between nurses and speech–language therapists may improve nurses’ knowledge in identification and management of stroke-related OPD in lower middle-income settings such as South Africa. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T22:44:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-da52ba67f9ed4b2c9d406fad1900e3e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0379-8046 2225-4765 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T22:44:33Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South African Journal of Communication Disorders |
| spelling | doaj.art-da52ba67f9ed4b2c9d406fad1900e3e32022-12-21T18:47:45ZengAOSISSouth African Journal of Communication Disorders0379-80462225-47652020-09-01671e1e710.4102/sajcd.v67i1.703614Nurses’ knowledge of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Eastern Cape, South AfricaKerry Knight0Bhavani Pillay1Jeannie van der Linde2Esedra Krüger3Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria, PretoriaDepartment of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria, PretoriaDepartment of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria, PretoriaDepartment of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria, PretoriaBackground: Early identification of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia (OPD) using screening by nurses can prevent adverse patient outcomes in lower middle-income countries. Nurses are essential in the OPD management team and should ideally be able to screen and prioritise dysphagia management in stroke patients. Objective: The aim of this research was to describe nurses’ practices related to identification and management of patients with stroke-related OPD. Methods: Qualified nurses from various healthcare levels in the Eastern Cape, South Africa were invited to complete a previously published hard copy survey on the signs and symptoms, complications and management of stroke-related OPD. A sample of 130 participants completed the survey. Results: The mean scores of correct responses for each section were: 8.7/13 (66.7%) for signs and symptoms, 4.7/10 (47.3%) for complications and 3.8/7 (54.2%) for management practices. Statistically, there were no differences between the levels of healthcare for the signs and symptoms section and the complications section. Regarding management of OPD, secondary-level (S) nurses demonstrated significantly better knowledge than primary-level (P) and tertiary-level (T) nurses (S–P: p = 0.022; S–T: p = 0.010). Secondary-level nurses also scored significantly higher across all three sections (S–P: p = 0.044; S–T: p = 0.025) than those at the other levels. Conclusions: The study found that nurses across all levels of healthcare had only moderate knowledge regarding identification and management of stroke-related OPD. Interdisciplinary collaboration between nurses and speech–language therapists may improve nurses’ knowledge in identification and management of stroke-related OPD in lower middle-income settings such as South Africa.https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/703oropharyngeal dysphagiadysphagia screeningstroke-related dysphagianurseinterdisciplinary collaborationsouth africalower middle-income countrysurvey. |
| spellingShingle | Kerry Knight Bhavani Pillay Jeannie van der Linde Esedra Krüger Nurses’ knowledge of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Eastern Cape, South Africa South African Journal of Communication Disorders oropharyngeal dysphagia dysphagia screening stroke-related dysphagia nurse interdisciplinary collaboration south africa lower middle-income country survey. |
| title | Nurses’ knowledge of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Eastern Cape, South Africa |
| title_full | Nurses’ knowledge of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Eastern Cape, South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Nurses’ knowledge of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Eastern Cape, South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nurses’ knowledge of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Eastern Cape, South Africa |
| title_short | Nurses’ knowledge of stroke-related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Eastern Cape, South Africa |
| title_sort | nurses knowledge of stroke related oropharyngeal dysphagia in the eastern cape south africa |
| topic | oropharyngeal dysphagia dysphagia screening stroke-related dysphagia nurse interdisciplinary collaboration south africa lower middle-income country survey. |
| url | https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/703 |
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