A survey of current practice for post‐acute stroke patients with cognitive impairment requiring nasogastric feeding—A proposed management pathway

What is already known on the subject There is limited research on how to achieve the best outcome for patients with stroke and coexistent cognitive impairment. Clinical experience of the authors would suggest that the dated evidence around appetite and NG feeding might need to be updated to allow the prospect of swallowing recovery in this group to be optimized. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge There is often uncertainty in cases of post-stroke survivors who have cognitive impairment about how best to approach the scenario of feeding if dysphagia exists. This pathway incorporates the current guidance and recommendations in a structured way with a practical approach to the weaning of parenteral feeding to allow those guidelines to implemented as intended. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? There is a possibility that the implementation of this pathway in to clinical practice will ensure that healthcare professionals working with post-stroke survivors who have cognitive impairment can offer a patient-centred, holistic management plan.