BENEFITS OF CLUSTER NURSING BASED ON COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF SWALLOWING FUNCTION AND NEUROLOGICAL IMPAIRMENT IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH DYSPHAGIA
Abstract
Background This study assesses the effect of cluster nursing based on a comprehensive evaluation on the swallowing and nerve function of elderly patients with swallowing disorders.
Method Ninety-two elderly patients with stroke dysphagia, diagnosed and treated in the geriatric medical center of the hospital from July 2021 to January 2022, were observed and analyzed. They were randomly divided into two groups of 46 each: a control group receiving routine nursing and an observation group receiving cluster nursing. Before and after nursing, the impairment of neurological function, quality of life and swallowing ability of the two groups were evaluated by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), quality of life scale (QOL) and Water swallowing test (WST).
Results (1) After nursing, the quality of life scores of both groups were improved compared to before nursing. There was a significant difference in the scores of the observation group before and after nursing (P < 0.05); after nursing, the quality of life scores of elderly patients in the observation group were higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). After nursing, the NIHSS scores of the two groups of elderly patients decreased, and the difference between the observation group before and after nursing was statistically significant (P < 0.05); the NIHSS score of elderly patients in the observation group after nursing was also lower (P < 0.05). (2) The improvement effect on dysphagia symptoms in the observation group was greater than in the control group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion The effect of cluster nursing based on comprehensive evaluation of the improvement of symptoms in elderly patients with stroke swallowing disorder is superior to that of routine nursing, which is conducive to significantly improving neurological impairment, swallowing disorder symptoms and improving quality of life.
