Brain Injury: Nutrition, Communication, and Elimination

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Nurses use knowledge of brain anatomy and function to guide patient care and negotiate expected outcomes. Brain injuries can cause catastrophic changes to a person’s ability to communicate, swallow, and control their bladder and bowel systems. Each of these areas has a significant effect on a patient’s quality of life and ability to live independently. In this course, participants will learn how a nurse addresses deficits in nutrition, communication, and elimination to develop interventions to improve patient outcomes.

Meet your instructor

Anne Leclaire

Anne graduated with a Master of Science-Nursing from the University of Phoenix and has worked in the field of rehabilitation nursing for most of her career. She started as a staff nurse in inpatient rehabilitation at Weldon Center for Rehabilitation in Springfield, Massachusetts and then moved to Madison, Wisconsin, at…

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Chapters & learning objectives

1. Nutrition and Dysphagia

Dysphagia occurs in a large number of patients with brain injury. This swallowing dysfunction challenges the rehabilitation nurse to ensure that the patient receives adequate caloric and fluid intake. Physical impairments from the brain injury can also affect patients’ abilities to independently feed themselves. This chapter addresses the nurse’s role in the management of dysphagia, transition to oral intake, and the use of adaptive feeding techniques.

2. Communication Deficits

Brain injuries can result in communication deficits as patients may suffer from aphasia or dysarthria. The inability to communicate is devastating to people. This chapter discusses the various communication deficits, strategies that rehabilitation nurses can use to communicate with their patients, and techniques that can be used to promote improved speech.

3. Bladder Management

Brain injuries affect all bodily systems to varying degrees based on the location and extent of the damage. This chapter will discuss the effects on the patient’s ability to void by discussing the neurogenic changes affecting the bladder. The rehabilitation nurse will use this information to develop and implement bladder management strategies.

4. Bowel Management

Brain injuries affect all bodily systems to varying degrees based on the location and extent of the damage. This chapter will discuss the neurogenic changes affecting bowel continence. The rehabilitation nurse will use this information to develop and implement bowel management strategies to promote regular emptying.

More courses in this series

Brain Injury: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Etiology and Levels

Anne Leclaire