The Effect of Nursing Guidelines to Enhancing Swallowing Capacity of Patients with Acute Stroke for Preventing Aspiration Pneumonia

Abstract

A common issue among acute stroke victims is dysphagia triggering aspiration pneumonia, and this condition affects patients' lives and health.  In this circumstance, the prospective descriptive study design was utilized for this investigation with the main purpose to assess nurse suggestions for enhancing acute stroke patients' ability to swallow to prevent aspiration pneumonia with guidelines from the Neurological Institute of Thailand.  To the research methodology, the sample consisted of 217 acute stroke patients who were hospitalized in internal medicine wards and a stroke unit at Saraburi Hospital in Saraburi province from March to September 2020. In addition, the research instruments were  1) the clinical nursing practice guidelines for the stroke of the neurological institute of Thailand 2) the clinical sign of dysphagia assessment 3) the readiness for patients before swallowing assessment 4) the staff swallowing checklist of the neurological Institute of Thailand and   5) the aspiration pneumonia Checklist of patients with acute stroke of the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute.  Moreover, data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, and the results revealed that all patients with acute stroke passed the swallowing capacity examination after receiving nursing care with guidelines. Additionally, the development of aspiration pneumonia has not been found in any of the patients with acute stroke. Following the nursing suggestions, it can reduce the likelihood of aspiration pneumonia among patients with acute stroke, and the implementation of the nursing suggestions is, therefore, advised to reduce the risk of aspiration pneumonia development in patients who have recently experienced an acute stroke.