PENNSYLVANIA
SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARING ASSOCIATION
COMMITTEE ON DYSPHAGIA
Practicing Clinician Series
Cervical Auscultation
A Critical Component of the Clinical Swallowing Evaluation
March 5, 2007
4:00 - 6:00 pm
Presented by Margaret Payne Shafer,
M.A., CCC-SLP/L
at Abington Memorial Hospital and Lehigh Valley Hospital
Click here for additional information.
The Ad Hoc committee was based in southeastern Pennsylvania, and
currently the committee’s meetings are held in Plymouth Meeting, near
the intersection of I-476 and I-276 north of Philadelphia. We
welcome participation from all interested PSHA members across the
Commonwealth, whether in person or online!
In the health care setting, the speech-language pathologist’s dysphagia
caseload can often exceed 80% of the total caseload. With those
numbers come many issues, such as practice patterns, evaluation and
treatment options, regulatory issues, and reimbursement concerns.
The Committee on Dysphagia endeavors to share information and resources
with SLPs throughout Pennsylvania and to provide continuing education
activities focused around members’ areas of interest.
Currently we hold several CE activities annually; this year’s
activities are scheduled for March 2 and May 4, 2005 in Plymouth Meeting.
On March 2, we plan to discuss blue dye and its alternatives, Vital Stim
– case examples and reimbursement issues, and DPNS. On May 4, we
plan a discussion on "Scary Videos and Functional Eaters."
If you would like to be put on the dysphagia committee mailing list for CE
brochures, please email Irina Brailovski at brailovski4irina@earthlink.net.
The Dysphagia Committee also hosts a list serve on Yahoo for group
emails to discuss anything pertinent to the committee or dysphagia in
general. It is free and open to any PSHA member interested in
participating. If you would like to be added to the dysphagia list
serve, please email Pam Smith at lobsterpam@aol.com.
Through the use of the internet, we hope to involve more SLPs across
Pennsylvania in the Committee on Dysphagia, and bring members together to
share knowledge and resources. The minutes from our last meetings
are only a click away.
Update on the Committee on Dysphagia
The Committee on Dysphagia began as an ad hoc
committee and is now an established group.
We are a subcommittee of the Speech-Language Pathology committee
and report to that VP. The
committee meets at Ken Crest Services in Plymouth Meeting for planning
meetings and continuing education activities, for which ASHA CEUs are
available. This past spring
we held two events: Blue
Dye and Alternatives in Assessment/ Vital Stim: Case Studies and
Reimbursement, and Scary Videos and Functional Eaters.
We are currently examining different ways that continuing education
could be made available to more members who are outside of the
Philadelphia area.
At our meetings we also discuss issues related to reimbursement, regulation, and any other issues that impact the dysphagia practice. Our committee includes individuals working with pediatrics through geriatrics and we welcome the expertise of practitioners across the state. Our members work in early intervention, public schools, acute care hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, management, and academia. The co-chairs, Jim Lemma and Pam Smith, along with our current membership, welcome students and new grads to participate!
The committee has a Yahoo list serve which PSHA members can join to discuss any issues related to swallowing and swallowing disorders. To join, send an email to Pam Smith at lobsterpam@aol.com.
Currently we are in the process of planning our activities for 2005-2006. We will be holding a continuing education activity in October on Legislation and Reimbursement. Watch the web site for confirmation of the date. We will also be discussing the Specialty Recognition in dysphagia and the processes involved in obtaining this recognition. We are also planning to develop statewide work groups to study dysphagia practice in Pennsylvania. There are many issues impacting on management of patients with dysphagia and we need to determine what is happening across Pennsylvania. We are hoping to gather data on use of water protocols, assessment protocols, diet consistencies, and other issues to look at our state in terms of management of patients with dysphagia. We hope to share the information at future committee meetings and at the PSHA state convention. We invite any PSHA member with an interest in swallowing disorders to join us and participate in our activities.