Nature and timeliness of dysphagia management within an emergency setting

Abstract

Purpose

To examine referral pathways, clinical demographics, and timeliness of dysphagia management within an emergency department (ED) setting utilising both ED staff and speech-language pathology (SLP) initiated referral pathways.

Method

Six-month retrospective service review of patients who received dysphagia assessment by SLP within a major Australian ED. Data were collected on demographics, referral information, and SLP assessment and service outcomes.

Result

Three hundred and ninety-three patients were assessed by SLP staff in the ED, consisting of 200 stroke and 193 non-stroke referrals. In the stroke cohort, 57.5% of referrals were initiated by ED staff, while 42.5% were SLP initiated. ED staff initiated 91% of non-stroke referrals, with few (9%) proactively identified by SLP staff. SLP staff identified a higher proportion of non-stroke patients within 4 hr of presentation compared to ED staff. Stroke patients identified by SLP staff were more likely to have assessments completed within 8 hr compared to the ED referral pathway. Collectively, 51% of patients required ongoing dysphagia management following initial assessment.

Conclusion

Findings provide an overview of SLP services and referral pathways in an ED context. The SLP initiated referral pathway facilitated early assessment of stroke patients, and collaboration with ED staff was integral in referring other at risk populations. SLP/ED synergy is needed for appropriate and timely dysphagia management practices in an ED.

Keywords:

• Dysphagia
• swallowing
• emergency department
• speech-language pathology
• models of care
• screening

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the SLPs who took their time to collect additional service information for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Metro South Health Research Support Scheme grant funding was obtained for this study.