Malaysian Journal of Health Sciences  2018;16(1):7-16

doi:10.17576/JSKM-2018-1601-02

Medical Officers’ Awareness, Involvement and Training in Dysphagia Management

Deborah Yong XINYI 1 ; Affizal AHMAD ; Malarvini VESUALINGAM

Affiliations

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Keywords

Dysphagia; awareness; training; involvement; speech-language pathologists

Country

Malaysia

Language

English

Abstract

Awareness, involvement and training in dysphagia management are essential to ensure that patients are appropriatelyassessed for dysphagia and provided with intervention. The study aimed to identify levels of awareness, involvement andtraining of medical officers in dysphagia management. A total of 51 medical officers from the family medicine, medical,otorhinolaryngology, surgery, and neurosurgery departments in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia participated in thestudy. Levels of awareness, involvement and training of medical officers in dysphagia management were reported usingdescriptive analysis. Results indicate that medical officers lacked awareness and training in dysphagia management.Referral rates to speech-language pathologists for dysphagia management were low with 58.4% of medical officers havinghad seldom or never referred patients. The results provide valuable information for addressing dysphagia managementin the hospital.