Abstract:
Consistent treatment is essential for providing high quality care to dysphagia patients. However,
variations in thickened liquids across facilities and clinicians prevents this consistency. Recently,
standardization initiatives have been put into effect but practicing clinicians struggle with
obtaining the time and resources needed to adequately test thickened recipes. Identifying recipes
that can be used universally to achieve a target liquid consistency helps to improve the quality of
treatment. In this investigation factors such as thickener, beverage brand, ingredients, and
temperature were considered to determine a hot chocolate recipe that reached an optimal nectar
consistency. Data was collected on various hot chocolate recipes using viscometers and the
IDDSI flow test, and comparisons were made between the recipe results, viscosity ranges, and
Varibar Barium. I evaluated these outcomes to determine how the results could influence hot
chocolate recipes in clinical practice.