Feeding assessment and paediatric dysphagia — branching viva

Station opening

Examiner: "Define paediatric dysphagia and outline your approach to a child referred with possible swallowing difficulty." ^[1]

Strong candidate (must-hit)

• Defines paediatric dysphagia as difficulty moving food, liquid or saliva safely from the mouth to the stomach, most often from oropharyngeal phase failure in a neurologically impaired or anatomically abnormal child; frames the approach around the mealtime, chest and growth doors, the high-risk background, the clinical feeding evaluation and its named limitation, the instrumental study to confirm aspiration, and a multidisciplinary plan from texture and posture modification to enteral feeding; states that the bedside evaluation cannot exclude silent aspiration is the single most important practical principle. ^{[1] [3]}

Weak candidate

• "Dysphagia is difficulty swallowing, and I would watch a feed at the bedside and reassure the family if it looked fine." ^[3]