THE LEVEL OF JORDANIAN NURSE'S KNOWLEDGE ABOUT DYSPHAGIA: DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

In Jordan, the percentage of those aged 65 and above will rise from 4.6% in 2012 to 4.9% in 2020. Therefore, it is mandatry to consider a demographic shift, when planning health services, especially among elderly people who have the risk of stroke. Dysphagia is frequent happening after stroke and needs attention and care, because of many complications that could occur, post stroke. The main purpose of the study is, to describe the level of Jordanian nurse's knowledge, about dysphagia, among stroke patients in Jordanian hospital. Descriptive design was utilized. A convenience sample from the two university affiliated hospitals was used to recruit 140 Jordanian registered nurses. Descriptive statistics were used to examine some socio-demographic characteristics and work-related variables of participants. Secondly, it describes the participant's knowledge of dysphagia presented under subsections; knowledge of signs and symptoms and the complications of dysphagia. Participants, in both groups had a moderate level of overall knowledge related to dysphagia. The study's findings support that dysphagia concept should be included in education and continuing training development programs and proliferation visibility of interdisciplinary work should be given to health care providers.