Screening or case-finding is a technique to 'quick & dirty' identify patients who might have a dysphagia or aspiration risk.
A swallowing screening is generally done by a nurse or physician and a 'positive outcome' means referral for dysphagia assessment by the speech-language therapist or other dysphagia specialist.

Objective screening methods (patient-rated)
According to the most recent systematic review (Kertscher et al., 2013) there are currently 4 screening techniques that are valid enough.

Screening

Studie

Populatie

Sens

Spec

V-VST
(Volume- Viscosity Swallowing Test)

 Clavé et al., 2008

Alle patiënten

69% - 100%

29% - 87%

TOR-BSST
(Toronto Bedside Swallow Screening Test)

 Martino et al. 2009

CVA-patiënten

80% - 96%

64% - 68%

3 oz water swallowing test 

Now: Yale Swallow Protocol

Suiter & Leder, 2008

 Suiter et al., 2013*

Alle patiënten

 

97%

100%*

49%

64%*

Cough test

 Wakasugi et al., 2008

Alle patiënten

45%

87%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Published after publication of the review.

 

 

Subjective screening methods (clinician-rated)
Another way of case-finding is the use of a questionnaires. For example the Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10), a short general list of swallowing complaints. Patients rate every item with 0 (no problem) to 4 (severe problem) and a total score of 3 out of 40 or higher may be an indication of a swallowing disorder and justify further assessment. It was validated and published in 2008 (Belafsky et al., 2008) and made available in several languages. Click here for the English version. 

You are here: Home Assessment Screening