The management of dysphagia in stroke

People who have strokes suffer a variety of problems, depending on the site and severity of brain damage. A particularly unpleasant and dangerous one is dysphagia which, if not properly assessed and managed, can prevent the patient receiving adequate nutrition to enable him or her to participate fully in a rigorous rehabilitation programme, or which may even cause his or her death through aspiration of food. The authors describe an appropriate nursing response to the problem, and advocate a multidisciplinary approach to the management of nutrition in the care of patients with strokes.