The study was done to develop an evidence-based enteral nutrition (EN) protocol for effective nutritional support for dysphagia in patients with acute stroke, and to evaluate effects of this protocol on clinical outcomes.

A methodological study was used to develop the EN protocol and a quasi-experimental study to verify the effectiveness of the protocol. The preliminary EN protocol was drawn by selecting recommendations from previous well-designed EN guidelines, and then developing additional recommendations based on high-quality evidence. Content validation was assessed by an expert group, and clinical applicability by care providers and patients. The scale-level content validity index of the final EN protocol was 0.99. Assessment was done of differences in percentage of caloric goals achieved and presence of undernutrition, aspiration pneumonia, and gastrointestinal (GI) complications after application of the EN protocol.

In the EN protocol group, the percentage of caloric goals achieved (R²=.24, p=.001) and the reduction of GI complications (p=.045) were significantly improved, but the presence of undernutrition (p=.296) and aspiration pneumonia (p=.601) did not differ from the usual care group.

Results indicate that the new EN protocol for dysphagia in patients with acute stroke significantly increased their nutritional intake and reduced GI complications.