Objective To explore the effect of cluster nursing intervention in elderly patients with swallowing dysfunction.

Methods A total of 105 elderly patients with a Water Swallowing Test (WST) score of ≥3 and a Fried Frailty Phenotype (FP) score of ≥33 admitted to the department of geriatrics in our hospital from August 2022 to December 2023 were selected as research subjects and randomly divided into study group (n=55) and control group (n=50). The control group received routine nursing care for swallowing dysfunction, while the study group received cluster nursing care. The frailty status, swallowing disorders, and quality of life were compared between the two groups after 1 month of intervention.

Results Due to changes in the condition, 2 cases dropped out from the control group and 3 cases from the study group, leaving 52 cases in the study group and 48 cases in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in general information between the two groups (P>0.05). Before the intervention, there was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of patients with different WST grades between the two groups (P>0.05). After 1 month of intervention, there was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of patients with WST grades 3, 4, and 5 compared to before the intervention (P < 0.05). After 1 month of intervention, there was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of patients with different WST grades between the two groups (P < 0.05). Before the intervention, the Swallowing-Quality of Life(SWAL-QOL) score of the study group was (108.47±19.99) points, and was (109.17±20.34) points in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in SWAL-QOL scores between the two groups before the intervention (P>0.05). After 1 month of intervention, the SWAL-QOL score of the study group was (143.07±16.55) points, and was (133.52±21.06) points in the control group. The SWAL-QOL scores of both groups improved compared to before the intervention, and the study group had a higher score than the control group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion Cluster nursing for elderly patients with swallowing disorders and frailty can effectively improve their frailty status, swallowing function, and quality of life.