IN FOCUS: Explore the future of profession - 2022
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/25599
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Item Swallowing difficulties in healthy ageing-adults; A study in the colombo and gampaha districts.(University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2022) Liyanage, V.W.; Atapattu, B.A.D.SBackground: Ageing affects swallowing with physiological, psychological, and functional changes. Disruption of any phase of the swallowing mechanism due to neurological, physiological, or psychological reasons can cause dysphagia. Swallowing disorders have a negative effect on health and quality of life, so early identification and early intervention are necessary for lifestyle support for elderly persons. This study aimed to gather data through a preliminary investigation of the presence of swallowing difficulties in otherwise healthy ageing adults in the Colombo and Gampaha districts. The findings of this study will contribute to raising awareness among these families/caregivers.Methods: A mixed method approach, including a descriptive cross-sectional survey was used. Participants of the study were a hundred (n=100) healthy ageing-adults of 60 years or above who live in the Colombo and Gampaha districts. A convenience sampling technique was used. Data was collected through the interviewer-administrated questionnaire developed based on demographic data, swallow symptoms, and adaptations during mealtime, including open-ended questions, close-ended questions, and rating scales and a video of a single trial of the participant drinking 30ml.Results: Of the 100 healthy ageing adults screened, 38 were males and 62 were females. Half (50%) of the participants (n=50) were aware that they had some difficulty during eating or swallowing. The interviewer-administered questionnaire, which included the Swallowing Disturbance Questionnaire (SDQ) with two sections was used to identify their swallowing difficulties. The more commonly reported characteristics were difficulty chewing solid foods and needing to masticate more before swallowing. The SDQ has a total score of 45, with higher scores indicative of a positive result suggesting the presence of swallowing difficulty. The subset 1 score was used to assess oral difficulties, and the subset 2 score indicated pharyngeal difficulties. A larger number of participants had pharyngeal difficulties than oral difficulties. Furthermore, people aged 70 and above had more difficulty swallowing than those aged between 60 to 69. Independent Mann-Whitney U test analysis showed statistically significant differences across age groups and sex. There was no correlation between the Swallowing Disturbance Questionnaire (SDQ) total and the Gugging Swallowing Screen (GUSS) total. In addition, changes to food choices (n = 37) and reduced food intake (n = 30) were the participants' most reported dietary habits and food preferences. Conclusion: The findings of the study reveal the presence of swallowing issues in the healthy elderly, characterize by the type of age-related swallowing difficulties, and identified healthy ageing-adults' mealtime adaptations in the local context. This study adds to the evidence of preliminary data about the presence of swallowing challenges, their nature, and adaptations to meet the nutritional demands of healthy older adults.Item Effectiveness of an educational workshop for improving ICU nurses` knowledge on managing dysphagia in patients with tracheostomy at government hospitals in Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2022) Karunarathna, W.K.L.; Perera, K.D.R.D.; Rathnayake, S.P.Background: Adult patients with tracheostomy are a medically complex population. Tracheostomy insertion is a common procedure seen in Intensive Care Unit (ICU} settings to manage many critical patients by means of an artificial airway. But the tracheostomy indication is associated with several complications. Therefore, dysphagia is one of the main complications that tracheostomy leads to, where 11% to 93% of patients following tracheostomy have been identified with dysphagia in various studies. The management of dysphagia is a multidisciplinary team approach, and the nurses are one of the health professionals in this team. Therefore, the nurses` knowledge of the management process of dysphagia is important to improve the Quality of Life (QoL) of patients with tracheostomy. Objective/s: The objectives of this study were to describe nurses` knowledge regarding dysphagia management in patients with tracheostomy before and after conducting an educational workshop and to describe the nurses’ perspectives on the effectiveness of the educational workshop. Methods: The pre-post interventional study design compared nurses' knowledge differences after attending an educational workshop on dysphagia management in tracheostomy patients. There were sixty participants (n = 60) included, and they were selected by purposive sampling and the snowballing technique. The data was gathered through an online survey. The educational workshop was planned based on the outcomes of the needs assessment and the nurses` knowledge assessed by providing pre and post-test questionnaires. Paired-sample t-tests were used to identify whether there is a significant improvement in the nurses` knowledge after the educational workshop. Results: The findings showed that the designed online workshop significantly improved nurses’ knowledge of managing dysphagia in tracheostomy patients t (59) =-25.755, p =.000. Further, the perceived effectiveness of the workshop, as reported by nurses, indicated that the workshop is highly effective and helpful in improving their knowledge regarding dysphagia management in patients with tracheostomy. Conclusion/s: The results of the present study showed that the nurses had moderate knowledge regarding dysphagia management in patients with tracheostomy before conducting the educational workshop. However, after conducting the educational workshop, the mean scores of nurses increased to the high knowledge level. Therefore, the study concludes that the educational workshop undertaken is an effective method to improve nurses' knowledge on the management of dysphagia in patients with tracheostomy.