Nursing Training on Swallowing Screening: Results of a Collaboration Project between Degree Courses in the time of COVID – 19

Abstract

Background and Goals: Studies show that Dysphagia is not recognised in half of cases and that specific nurse training is necessary for its identification. The goal of the study was to verify whether university training, aimed at identifying and managing Dysphagia, brought an improvement in students’ knowledge in the immediate and 6 months later.Materials and Methods: 93 students, attending the second year of the Degree in Nursing of Trieste, followed an e-learning labora-tory on Dysphagia during the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic. 3 questionnaires at time T0 (pre-training), T1 (after-training) and T2 (6 months later) were administered and compared. Questionnaires T1 and T2 were compared with the achievement of the 4 aims of the study.Results: 82 students were included. The T0-T1 comparison showed a 3.6 points improvement on average, while the T0-T2 compari-son showed equality. The comparison between T1-T2 objectives showed: more than 50% of students reached the 1st target, less than 10% reached the 2nd and 3rd targets and 15% achieved the 4th goal.Conclusions: Months later, the students didn’t retain the knowledge acquired and the majority of them didn’t achieve the laboratory goals. Results demonstrate the need to combine teaching with laboratory practice or clinical internship.