Deans' stroke musings: Current evaluation of upper oesophageal sphincter opening in dysphagia practice: an international SLT survey

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Current evaluation of upper oesophageal sphincter opening in dysphagia practice: an international SLT survey

I didn't have this but you can get an idea of what your SLT goes thru to test you.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-6984.2011.00087.x/abstract;jsessionid=5828CA176375C6266285EB1007EA2A57.d01t03

Abstract

Background: The assessment of adequate upper oesophageal sphincter (UOS) opening during swallowing is an integral component of dysphagia evaluation.

Aims: To ascertain speech and language therapists’ (SLTs) satisfaction with current methods for assessing UOS function in people with dysphagia and to identify challenges encountered by SLTs with UOS evaluation.

Methods & Procedures: A survey was disseminated to 82 SLT managers in Ireland; to two dysphagia Special Interest Groups in the UK; and to the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists’Bulletin periodical. A survey link was also posted on the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) Division 13 (Dysphagia) web forum.

Outcomes & Results: Surveys from 224 SLTs with active dysphagia caseloads were included in data analysis. Only 17.9% (40/224) of SLTs were satisfied with the accuracy and reliability of UOS evaluations currently being employed in dysphagia practice. Satisfaction with current UOS evaluation was not associated with the level of clinical experience (r= 0.078; p= 0.246). Eighty-seven per cent (195/224) of SLTs working with dysphagia experience challenges in UOS evaluation. Challenges reported include lack of resources/equipment (55.9%), limited quantitative information (45.6%), lack of training (41%) and knowledge (39%) in UOS function, and limited multidisciplinary team involvement (34%).

Conclusions & Implications: SLTs across all levels of clinical experience are not satisfied with current UOS evaluation in dysphagia practice. Based on the specific challenges identified, recommendations to progress SLT evaluation of UOS function in people with dysphagia are proposed.