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.