Dysphagia is a condition that needs much attention from all areas of staff in a nursing home setting. Dysphagia is more prominent among older populations and will be a significant issue considering our population is aging very rapidly. Every employee needs to be equipped with the knowledge about dysphagia. Nursing can help dysphagia because they are with their patients’ everyday administering hands on treatment. This paper will discuss what dysphagia is, factors leading to the cause of dysphagia, how it is assessed, how this disorder affects quality of life and how can nursing professionals gear their knowledge in creating greater quality of life and care for patients with dysphagia.
Dysphagia is defined as any dysfunction from mastication to passage of the food or liquid into the esophagus (Eisenstadt, pg. 18). There are two categories to label the different types of dysphagia. The first category is Oropharyngeal dysphagia. This dysphagia is characterized by the difficulty of initiating swallowing and moving food from the mouth to the esophagus (Eisenstadt, pg. 18). As a result, patients who have this type of dysphagia either cough or choke on liquids that are too thin. Patients diagnosed with Oropharyngeal dysphagia may also have a hoarse, or wet voice and sometimes cannot control the saliva from their mouth. Oropharyngeal dysphagia is usually associated with patients who have various neurological disorders (Eisenstadt, pg. 18). This may include Parkinson’s disease or stroke patients.
The second type of dysphagia is called Esophageal dysphagia. This type dysphagia is characterized by the diminished ability to move food through the esophagus (Eisenstadt, pg. 18). This may cause chest pain or cause the patient to spit up their f...
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Conclusion is the fifth stage of Gibbs (1988) cycle which acknowledges the learning and achievement of my goal of accurate pain assessment. I am now able to achieve my competency of collaborative and therapeutic practice and comprehensive assessment(Unit 5, 9, 10) as outlined in National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse. I feel confident enough to assess the pain in non-verbal and dementia residents accurately and validly as the pain assessment done by me was counter assessed by NUM. She found it valid assessment. Moreover I was assessed by my assessor on my findings of pain assessment on three
•Jose symptoms is derived from a disorder called Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) occurring in the digestive system with the consumption of food, irritating the esophagus generally causing notable clinical symptoms such as the following: vomiting, chronic cough, angina, & regurgitation immediately after the consumed food. Jose's experience of the lump in his throat is caused by esophageal sphincter pressure.
The most common speech symptom is hypophonia which is reduced vocal loudness. Hypokinetic dysarthria often is associated with variables of pitch and loudness where a patient may be monopitch or exhibit monoloudness (Johnson & Adams, 2006). Speech movements ...
Often in rehab facilities, tasks are delegated to nursing assistants, who are not allowed to make assessments, but who also are not educated to be looking for slight changes in patient condition. Increased agitation and confusion can be attributed to lack of sleep, poor nutritional status, or even be considered a normal fluctuation in the patient’s dementia and may not be reported to a nurse. Oliguria and odor of urine may not be noticed by an aid in the event that the patient load was heavy, and is something that an aid may not realize is a critical factor to be reporting to the nurse on. Lastly, when a patient may not be able to express pain verbally, it requires healthcare providers to be familiar with them and make astute judgements based on their behaviors, vital signs, and overall affect/appearance to know that they are in
American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Professional Aspects of Nurse Anesthesia Practice. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company, 1994. Print.
Whilst looking at the impact that breathlessness can have on patient the author will look at the physical, psychological and social health implications and how this can affect the overall (holistic) quality of life for these patients. Often these three areas overlap and the physical implications of breathlessness can have a direct effect on the patient’s social health, financial ability to provide for themselves and others, which in turn affects the person physiological well-being or vice versa.
A 41-year-old manwith a history of DM was brought to emergency department (ED)due to difficulty in breathing. It was associated with fever, severe sore throat and muffled voice for 2 days duration. He visited a...
The clinician administered the Bedside Swallow Evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine if further testing is warranted due to performance of swallowing function. The patient will consume a variety of textures and consistencies. The patient is first presented with water from a spoon and asked to swallow it as the clinician places a gloved hand on the patient’s throat, as for the clinician to feel the typical anterior-superior movement of the larynx. After the patient finishes swallowing the clinician asks the patient to produce a prolonged phonation to observe voice quality. The patient is then instructed to take a single sip form a cup with thin liquid (clinician checks larynx movement present and vocal quality), take three
Volles, D. F. (2011, April 11). University of Virginia Health System Adult and Geriatric Sedation/Analgesia for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures. Retrieved May 12, 2011, from University of Virgina Health System: University of Virginia Health System Adult and Geriatric Sedation/Analgesia for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures
The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) was used to find peer-reviewed articles, using query terms such as: aspiration pneumonia, ventilator, and prevention. In addition, the TWUniversal search engine was utilized to find peer-reviewed articles, with the key words: aspiration pneumonia, ventilator, and enteral.
When caring for this patient I questioned how can a nurse such as myself provide caring and comfort to a patient who is experiencing nausea and vomiting unrelieved by medications? What I decided to do was draw upon Kolcaba’s comfort theory to address her oral hygiene. Because post-operative vomiting is a major source of patient discomfort and dissatisfaction after surgery (Bradshaw et al., 2002). According to Kolcaba (1994) “comfort is defined for nursing as the satisfaction of the basic human needs for relief, ease or transcendence arising from health care situations that are stressful (p. 1178)”. I provided comfort and demonstrated critical thinking in response to caring by regularly assisting her with oral care using mouth wash to remove the taste of emesis from her mouth. Not only did this increase oral hygiene it made her feel more like herself. Providing or assisting patients with oral care on a routine basis is not only just a comfort measure but a best practice guideline for a patients with a diminished health status (RNAO, 2008). After assisting her with oral care and the insertion of the nasogastric tube a family member said that Patient X smiled for the first time in days. That moment was extremely rewarding as a nursing student, because I knew my critical thinking skills and spending this time with her and meeting her basic made
The purpose of this essay is to explore nursing care priorities for a patient with a common health condition. A common health condition is a disease or condition which occurs most often within a population. The author has chosen scenario 3 for this essay and will describe the nursing assessment and care planning provided to a patient with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The WHO definition of COPD is a lung disease which has a chronic obstruction of the airways that impedes normal breathing and is not fully reversible (). According to), there are estimated to be over 3 million people in the UK with COPD. It is common in later life and there are approximately 25,000 deaths each year, with 15% of COPD being work related (The identity of the patient will remain anonymous in adherence with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Code of Conduct on patient confidentiality (). However, the patient will be referred to as Mr B in this essay. The author has chosen the priority of eating and drinking for Mr B. Patients with COPD are at increased risk of malnutrition and nurses must make certain they screen patients and offer advice or refer as necessary (). If this priority is managed well it will have a positive effect on the other priorities (, 2012). In accordance with NICE Guideline 101 (), the treatment and care provided should consider each persons’ individual requirements and preference. Care and treatment should take into account people’s individual needs and choices. To allow people to reach informed decisions there must be good communication, supported by evidence-based practice (). This essay will provide an evidence based discussion on how care will be implemented in relation to Mr B and his eating and drin...
The clinical manifestation one may see in patients with chronic bronchitis are chronic cough, weight loss, excessive sputum, and dyspnea. Chronic cough is from the body trying to expel the excessive mucus build up to return breathing back to normal. Dyspnea is from the thickening of the bronchial walls causing constriction, thereby altering the breathing pattern. This causes the body to use other surrounding muscles to help with breathing which can be exhausting. These patients ca...
This piece of work will be based on the pre-assessment process that patients go through on arrival to an endoscopy unit in which I was placed in during my second year studying Adult diploma Nursing. I will explore one patient’s holistic needs, identifying the priorities of care that the patient requires; I will then highlight a particular priority and give a rational behind this. During an admission I completed under the supervision of my mentor I was pre-assessing a 37 year old lady who had arrived to the unit for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. During the pre-assessment it was important that a holistic assessment is performed as every patient is an individual with unique care needs as the patient outline in this piece of work has learning disabilities it was imperative to identify any barriers with communication (Nursing standards 2006).
Trounce, J. (2000) Clinical pharmacology for nurses: the role of the nurse in drug administration. 16th Ed. London: Churchill Livingstone.