What is eating and swallowing?

This refers to the series of actions involved in recognizing food and drink, bringing it to the mouth, chewing it, swallowing it, and sending it down the esophagus to the stomach. This is a basic function for ingesting nutrition, and requires coordinated action of the mouth, throat, esophagus, etc. Disorders can lead to aspiration and nutritional deficiencies, so rehabilitation and specialized care are important.

Visualizing swallowing force during rounds

Members of the team, led by an otolaryngologist, make rounds once a week and conduct bedside evaluations using a swallowing endoscopy to check the patient's swallowing habits. Based on this, speech-language-hearing therapists suggest and provide guidance on "safe eating habits," while registered dietitians consider "food forms tailored to the patient," taking into account the desired consistency.
In addition, dental hygienists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and pharmacists utilize their respective expertise to suggest "care methods for maintaining oral hygiene," "rehabilitation methods," "safe ways to take medicine," etc. In addition, we work in cooperation with the patient's doctor and ward nurses to come up with ideas to create a better dining environment.

Nutritional management in collaboration with NST

In order to manage patients' health and improve their eating and swallowing disorders, cooperation with the nutrition support team (NST) is essential, so we adjust the content of meals and provide nutritional management to suit the patient's health condition and swallowing function.

Promoting understanding through in-hospital study sessions

When the mouth and throat do not function properly, it becomes difficult to eat smoothly, which can affect the patient's overall health. Therefore, the Oral Care and Swallowing Rehabilitation Team regularly holds "staff study sessions" within the hospital to ensure that hospitalized patients can enjoy their meals safely. Through lectures on dysphagia food, nutrition, and oral care methods, the team works to deepen understanding of eating and swallowing dysfunction among many different professions and staff.

Creating a continuous system and structure

Once a month, members gather for a "team meeting" to discuss methods for improving patients' eating and swallowing disorders and systems for safe food intake. We are working to ensure that this system is not temporary but is utilized as a continuous system. For example, we are establishing a system for providing detailed support, such as formulating an environment where patients can eat safely and creating a "swallowing screening flowchart" to determine the degree of the disorder.