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Dysphagia screening tests are useful in identifying possible dysphagia for further evaluation and in supporting feeding recommendations. This study aimed to investigate swallowing parameters in children, while widening the pool of data available, using the '100 ml-Timed Water Swallow Test' (100 ml-TWST). Sixty Singaporean children aged 4 to 18 years old completed the 100 ml-TWST via a cup and a straw. Task completion, presence of cough, choke or throat clear, post-swallow voice quality, total time taken and number of swallows were observed. Subsequently, analysis of time per swallow (T/S), volume per swallow (V/S) and volume per time or swallowing capacity (V/T) were performed. Higher tendencies for coughing and task incompletion were observed in younger participants. A shorter time taken, fewer number of swallows, greater V/S and greater swallowing capacity were observed for adolescent or male participants, or via the mode of cup drinking. These could be due to oropharyngeal structural changes and swallow maturation with age, an increased capacity of oropharyngeal structures for swallowing in adolescent males, and more controlled or paced drinking from a straw. A plateau in time taken, number of swallows and swallowing capacity in adolescence were also observed, possibly indicating an emerging maturation of swallow functions during that period. Interestingly, speed of bolus movement was largely unaffected by age, gender and mode of drinking. Pilot data for children with no dysphagia have been established, while gaining insight into the swallowing parameters and maturation process in the paediatric population., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: During the COVID-19 epidemic in Singapore, there was an urgent demand to train more nurses within a short timeframe to perform the Water Swallow Test (WST). The previous training model involved training with actual patients and was time-consuming. Hence, the model was revamped and standardised patients (SPs) were engaged for nurses' training. This study further investigated nurses' feedback about the new training model and compared the efficiency and learner-reported outcomes of the previous and new models. Methods: Nurses who completed WST training from January 2018 to July 2020 were enrolled. Training records were accessed to determine the number of nurses trained under the previous and new models. Nurses were invited to complete post-training evaluation forms and their responses were analysed. Descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney U test were used for data analysis. Results: Under the previous model, 52 nurses were trained over 2 years, whereas under the new model, 112 nurses were trained over two months. From the evaluation form responses, the majority of nurses trained under the new model agreed that they achieved the learning objectives and were confident in performing the WST. There was also no significant difference (p>0.05) found between learner-reported outcomes for both training models. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that the new model that engaged SPs was more efficient in training more nurses. Nurses were also satisfied with the new training model, which achieved similar learner-reported outcomes as the previous model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]