Barnes Jewish Hospital Stroke Dysphagia Screen
Assesses ability to swallow without aspiration after stroke.
Advice
- If a patient completes all components of the BJH-SDS successfully then they can be safely started on a regular diet without the need for evaluation by speech pathology.
- When evaluating a patient who suffered an acute stroke for potential dysphagia and aspiration risk, the BJH-SDS can be performed by non-specialty trained health care providers to determine which patients can safely tolerate a normal diet and which patients should be referred to speech pathology.
Critical Actions
- The BJH-SDS appears to be an easy, reliable and efficient means for non-specialists to identify which patients can be safely advanced to a regular diet after suffering an acute stroke.
- If for any reason there remain concerns that a patient may be an aspiration risk despite having a negative BJH-SDS evaluation, they should be referred to speech pathology before advancing their diet.