A Survey of Clinician Decision Making When Identifying Swallowing Impairments and Determining Treatment
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are the primary health care providers who manage dysphagia. A report from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) indicates that the caseload of SLPs working in health care settings primarily involves management of swallowing disorders (ASHA, 2007, 2015). Swallowing is also a required competency in the curriculum for accredited academic programs in speech-language pathology (Communication Sciences and Disorders; ASHA, 2015). Thus, as primary providers of dysphagia care, SLPs should be among the most knowledgeable practitioners on swallowing physiology in both health and disease. Nonetheless, the role of SLPs as the primary service provider in dysphagia has been challenged, with some assertions that SLPs are inadequately trained in swallowing physiology (Campbell-Taylor, 2008). Experts in the field have further raised concerns regarding the efficacy of dysphagia rehabilitation outcomes (Langmore, 1995; Logemann, 2012; Rosenbek, 1995). Given current health care standards in the United States and abroad, if dysphagia management is not considered to be a skilled, physiology-based behavioral intervention, financial reimbursement could be reduced or denied. This could have serious negative effects on the SLPs’ scope of practice and significantly impact the availability of dysphagia care for patients.
Read more here: https://jslhr.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2712189&fbclid=IwAR2fp3iEyyam0L-_hbHDCe2BjHgdSLMhM-kPpKitjuHeeGgLs37BGsCSwmE
Leave a Reply