Swallow Your Pride

In this episode, Dr. Brodsky discusses when to assess or screen for swallowing function post extubation - what has been done in the past, what is going on today, and what should you do tomorrow? Dr. Brodsky describes a life altering incident that has shaped his career, and we also discuss the importance of clinical research, evidence-based medicine, and why it’s called clinical “practice.” Dr. Brodsky is an Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins University. His peer-reviewed research publications, book chapters, and invited presentations focus on swallowing and swallowing disorders. Dr. Brodsky’s clinical research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, studying the effects of critical illness and critical care medicine on swallowing and the airway and their long-term outcomes. His clinical practice specializes in adult swallowing and communication disorders. Dr. Brodsky is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, a member of the ASHA Advisory Council for Speech-Language Pathology, and a member of the Editorial Board for Dysphagia. He is a frequent reviewer for scientific journals and a member of the Dysphagia Research Society and the American Psychological Association. The show notes contain several references regarding post extubation, and all of the papers discussed in this episode. They can be downloaded at bit.ly/SYPpodcast021 or text SYP021 to 44422.

Dan and I team up for a quick off the cuff "holiday edition" episode to present to *YOU* how to present a case on social media in order to get the best and most appropriate responses from your peers. Dan also tackles decision making, documentation, and the importance of making solid referrals. Show notes are always available at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com.

Episode 019 of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast features Russ Campbell, PT, CEO of Ampcare. Russ Campbell received his degree in Physical Therapy from Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois in 1989.  He is a co-developer of the Effective Swallowing Protocol (ESP™) and CEO of Ampcare, a FDA registered medical device and services company that develops innovative technologies designed to improve the quality of life in people with swallowing disorders. He has 28 years of experience in electrotherapy and has presented Ampcare’s products in the US, Europe, Japan and Hong Kong. Russ is responsible for the research and development of the company’s products and methodology as well as guiding the company’s growth through partnerships with other healthcare providers. 

Episode 018 of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast features Selena Reece.  Selena Reece received her Master’s degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003 and obtained Board Certification in Swallowing in 2015. She has worked in acute care, outpatient, and inpatient rehabilitation settings. She currently serves as the Director of Educational Resources for Carolina Speech Pathology, while carrying an active caseload providing mobile FEES services. She has been deemed competent for supervision and training in FEES by Dr. Gregory Postma, a board certified Otolaryngologist.  In this episode we discuss why we need instrumentals, how FEES can be a wonderful addition to your facility, and where to even begin with creating a FEES program.

Dr. Fisher is back for part 2 to discuss her main passion -- trach and vent! In this episode, we discuss some tracheostomy and mechanical ventilation FAQs as they relate to dysphagia. Do trachs themselves directly cause dysphagia? Is the blue dye test accurate? Why is FEES beneficial for this population?  Dr. Fisher received her PhD in Speech Language Pathology from Vanderbilt University. She is a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and clinical instructor with SA Swallowing Services and works at various hospitals, sub-acute care facilities, and rehab facilities. Dr. Fisher holds ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence, endorsement for endoscopy practice, and is a certified FEES trainer. Dr. Fisher is an adjunct professor at University of Maryland - College Park and Tennessee State University. She has over ten years of experience as an SLP and her clinical interests include speech, language, dysphagia, Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES), and working patients requiring tracheostomy/mechnical ventilation. Dr. Fisher is the creator and director of Preparing SLPs for Tracheostomy and Ventilator Patient Care Training Course. As always, show notes are available to download at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com, and are now MUCH easier to download! 

Dr. Fisher received her PhD in Speech Language Pathology from Vanderbilt University. She is a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and clinical instructor with SA Swallowing Services and works at various hospitals, sub-acute care facilities, and rehab facilities. Dr. Fisher holds ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence, endorsement for endoscopy practice, and is a certified FEES trainer. Dr. Fisher is an adjunct professor at University of Maryland - College Park and Tennessee State University. She has over ten years of experience as an SLP and her clinical interests include speech, language, dysphagia, Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES), and working patients requiring tracheostomy/mechnical ventilation. Dr. Fisher is the creator and director of Preparing SLPs for Tracheostomy and Ventilator Patient Care Training Course. In this episode, we discuss how to transition to being a medical SLP the right and ethical way because there is a right and a WRONG way! We also discuss the ethics at both the state licensure level and with ASHA if caught practicing incompetently. As always, show notes are available to download at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com, and are now MUCH easier to download!

On episode 015 of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast we have Rebecca Levy back for a Part 2! Rebecca is an SLP currently in the role of Clinical Program Consultant for ACP’s Synchrony dysphagia program. Rebecca has worked in healthcare for over 11 years. Although she spent the first 2 years of her career in special education, she quickly realized that she had a passion for the geriatric setting and specifically working with patients with dysphagia. She spent about 8 years in a SNF setting and 5 of those years she was a Director of Rehabilitation for her therapy program but never stepped away from treating. She also spent some time doing private home health and worked on a mobile van completing videofluoroscopy. Rebecca’s current role of clinical consultant is probably her most fulfilling, helping to educate other SLPs and helping them to get superior outcomes with their patients! In this episode, we discuss ALL things thickened liquids - the good, the bad, and the ugly! We discuss why we should be treating our patients and getting them away from just "tolerating" diets, and what thickened liquids can actually do our patient's physiology and psychology! The show notes for this episode can be found at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com.

In this episode, we sit down with Jonathan Waller of Dysphagia Cafe to discuss all of the happenings in LA at the 2017 ASHA Convention! We also discuss some of the "Best Of" Dysphagia Cafe!

On episode 013 of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast we have Rebecca Levy. Rebecca is an SLP currently in the role of Clinical Program Consultant for ACP’s Synchrony dysphagia program. Rebecca has worked in healthcare for over 11 years. Although she spent the first 2 years of her career in special education, she quickly realized that she had a passion for the geriatric setting and specifically working with patients with dysphagia. She spent about 8 years in a SNF setting and 5 of those years she was a Director of Rehabilitation for her therapy program but never stepped away from treating. She also spent some time doing private home health and worked on a mobile van completing videofluoroscopy. Rebecca’s current role of clinical consultant is probably her most fulfilling, helping to educate other SLPs and helping them to get superior outcomes with their patients! In this episode, we discuss ALL things exercise! Exercises, exercises, and more exercises! Rebecca goes through all 17 components of the MBSimp and provides evidence-based exercises for each swallowing impairment. The show notes for this episode can be found at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com and there is a cheat sheet chart of all of the impairments, muscles and cranial nerves involved, as well as exercises for each component!

Dr. Jonathan Aviv, ENT joins us for Episode 012 of The Swallow Your Pride Podcast. Dr. Aviv is currently the Clinical Director of the Voice and Swallowing Center in Manhattan, New York, which is a private practice that is affiliated with several institutions. He is also a Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology Head and Neck surgery at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Aviv also ran an endoscopy training program for SLPs for several years. In this episode, we discuss the editorial - “When endoscopy is an option, what would you choose?” the safety of FEES, what SLPs should know about LPR/GERD, and a food- not medicine -​ SYP012 Dr Jonathan Aviv What SLPs Should Know A...​ solution. Dr. Aviv also provided us with some food myths relating to LPR/GERD and dysphagia. You can scoop a copy of his book here, the Acid Watcher Diet, and as always the show notes for this episode are over at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com

Hillary Cooper is the owner of Speech Therapy Services of North Louisiana and currently contracts with two locations of Fyzical Balance Centers to provide outpatient pediatric and adult speech therapy services as well as adult home health services. Hillary is also in the process of establishing a mobile FEES company called North Louisiana Swallow Solutions. Hillary is extremely passionate about pushing for the use of evidence-based practice in dysphagia treatment in these rural areas. In this episode, we discuss how we can advocate for our patients AND our field. She tells us how she has been successful with educating other professions and getting them on board and collaborating with us on our dysphagia treatment plans. Hillary also discusses having Dr. Stephanie Daniels as her graduate school professor, and how that has shaped the way she views continuing education. Check out the show notes for this episode at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com.

Dr. Catriona Steele is an incredible, internationally known, ASHA Fellow who is currently a researcher at the Toronto Rehab Institute. She had 10 years of experience as a medical SLP before pursuing her PhD, and she is still very much involved at the clinical level in our field. Dr. Steele has over 80 peer-reviewed publications, and has presented as an invited lecturer in Europe, Japan, China, Austrialia, and she actually just returned from the World Dysphagia Summit and European Society for Swallowing Disorders, so she does give us some scoop from that! Dr, Steele is one of the main key players in the International Dysphagia Diet Standardized Initiative also known as IDDSI. She also has received international recognition for her work on tongue functioning in the swallow. Dr. Steele has a 2-part series on Medbridge right now about tongue pressure resistance training, so feel free to check that out, and also one of my most favorite series on MedBridge is her 5-part series about best practices in VFSS, so if you're a Medbridge member check that out, if not, you can purchase that annual membership for unlimited CEUs for only 95$ with promo code SYP, so head over to medbridgeeducation.com and purchase that SLP education plan with promo code SYP to watch Dr.Steele’s awesome CEU videos on lingual resistance and videofluoroscopy. In this episode, we discuss the importance of IDDSI and standardizations amongst thickened liquids and texture modifications, we discuss skill based training, and the importance of rehabbing the swallow, as well as we get to hear about some of Dr. Steele’s mentors and who's work has really inspired her. As always, you can download the show notes at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com

Today’s guest is one of my most favorite people in this world, Vince Clark (AKA Edgar Vincent Clark.) Vince and I share the same wavelength on so many different dysphagia related topics. One thing we are both so passionate about is access to instrumentation, and not just access, but encouraging all SLPs to understand the financials behind what we do, so that they can appropriately advocate for services for their patients. Vince is someone that I think all SLPs who are treating dysphagia should aspire to be. First and foremost, patient care, and doing right by the patient is paramount in his practice. Second, he understands the financials behind everything we do in diagnostics, treatment, as well as end of life care and knows where the research and policies are all located so that he is able to educate any DOR or administrator that may attempt to deny access to equipment or therapy materials. Vince is currently the Director of Dysphagia Diagnostics for Integra Rehab which is part of a much larger non-profit organization called Community Health Services that provides services to thousands of patients throughout the state of Georgia. Vince currently is in charge of their mobile FEES program, so if there is anyone in the state of Georgia that is interested in having mobile FEES service their facility, get in contact with him, as they do contract with outside facilities. In this episode, we discuss the cost of instrumental assessments, and how they are not only a cost savings, but can be revenue generating, and also the financials associated with therapy materials, as well as where to locate all​ of the regulations

Today’s guest is Megan Nosol. Megan is extremely knowledgeable in the world of head and neck cancer. She is super intelligent, and has not only skimmed the literature, but she really dives in and thinks critically, and relays it so well in to her clinical practice. Megan is a graduate of the the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since graduating, Megan has been a clinician in the skilled nursing, outpatient rehabilitation, and non-profit organization settings. She has also taken 36 credit hours of additional pre-medicine coursework and has a strong research background. Currently, Megan is a SLP at STEPS for Recovery, an outpatient clinic, where she treats adults who have trismus, an array of communication disorders, and dysphagia. She is also a Board Member of the non-profit organization, Lary's Speakeasy, which provides laryngectomy supplies, support, and educational resources to laryngectomees and their caregivers. Megan is the founder and co-trainer of the ARK-J Program: Trismus Intervention Certification Course for SLPs. Additionally, Megan is the creator of the website, www.SpeechTherapyToolbox.com, which is a resource for patients and caregivers of communication and swallowing disorders. In this episode, we discuss the ABCs of HNC, and Megan gives you a great general knowledge base about treating HNC. Don’t forget to head over to www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com to download the show notes for this episode, and thank Megan for giving you tons of great info and references to check out.

This is episode 007 of the Swallow Your Pride podcast, and on today’s episode we have Yvette McCoy. She is Board Certified Specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders, and owns a private practice clinic in Maryland called Speak Well Solutions. Yvette is also an adjunct instructor at the University of Maryland in College Park. Yvette has over 25 years of experience in the field, and specializes in treating dysphagia in our aging population. Yvette is so stinking down to earth, very real, and one of the kindest people you will meet. She loves to help younger clinicians (and I’m secretly very jealous of her grad students), and she is passionate about teaching EBP in dysphagia. Yvette has training in the area of FEES (Fiberoptic Endoscopic Examination of Swallowing) and MBSImP (Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile), she is co-creator of the Dysphagia Therapy app through Tactus therapy, and she also has 2 CEU courses through Northern Speech Services called The Cranial Nerve Examination: Integrating Assessment And Treatment In Dysphagia Management and also Gauging The Aging Swallow: 3-Part Course For The Medical SLP. In this episode we discuss how to advocate to your boss for the tools you need to do your job, we discuss Dr. Langmore Predictors of Aspiration paper, and we discuss the importance of the evidence-based triad. Check out the show notes for this episode at www.swallowyourpridepodcast.com.