The clinician's place for dysphagia awareness, evidence-based practice and information.
The Dysphagia Toolbox I have written about the Dysphagia Toolbox before. The Dysphagia Toolbox used to be a website that offered links to standardized and reliable tools that you can use in dysphagia assessment and with reassessment. [...]
Cognition can impact many facets of life including swallowing. Patients may be confused enough that they don't "recognize" food in their mouth and effectively may not know what to do with that food. For example, when I was working in the acute care hospital, I evaluated a patient in the ICU that had sodium levels [...]
What happens to the sensory aspect of the swallow with extubation? What should we expect with patients that have intubation for more than 48 hours?
Extubation is a hot and heavy topic. Determining the right time to evaluate a patient is critical in the management of these patients.
Click here to download your very own copy of your FREE Guide of How to Stay Busy at Home! The guide provides several resources. All links are available below! All Podcasts can be found on Apple Podcasts. Check your other favorite Podcast Platforms or visit the links below. Swallow Your Pride Down the Hatch [...]
I know it's been awhile. I've missed the community, but I just haven't had the energy to write! This may be a little long, so bear with me. In August I had to go to the gynecologist to have my Mirena changed. I'm just not thinking more children are in my plans, but you never [...]
The First Thing.... When I assess a patient with dysphagia, my first plan of attack is to teach the patient about oral care and start an oral care plan with that patient! Aspiration Aspiration is defined as the inhalation of either oropharyngeal or gastric contents into the lower airways, that is, the act of taking [...]
Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training Inspiratory strength training works on the muscles of inspiration the diaphragm, the intercostals. Inspiration involves contractions of the diaphragm and external intercostals, which increase intrathoracic volume and decreased volume in pressure. Respiration is a recoil from inspiration. Exhalation involves relaxation of the inhalation muscles, recruitment of abdominal and internal intercostals to force [...]
My dining room story.... I can't even count how many times I have started work in a new building or started a new PRN job and been told meal times so that I can go sit with patients during their meals for their therapy time. It's easy, right. I go sit in the dining room [...]
Research Research by Dr. Lazarus and Dr. Robbins has focused heavily on lingual strengthening. Many of these research articles have proven to us that lingual strengthening using resistance such as an IOPI does increase not only tongue strength and at times, tongue mass, but also improves the overall swallow. This same research has also shown us that using [...]