Swallowing Treatment: What’s Next?

Video Runtime: 48 Minutes; Learning Assessment Time: 30 Minutes

This four-part course series is designed to be taken sequentially, beginning with Course 1: Behind the Scenes With SLPs Across Models of Care in the ICU and concluding with Course 4: Swallowing Treatment: What’s Next?
Each course builds upon the knowledge from the previous one, providing learners with an understanding of ICU management for SLPs. By the final course, participants will have a well-rounded grasp of key concepts essential for effective patient care in the ICU.

Course Overview

• Behind the Scenes With SLPs Across Models of Care in the ICU
• PARTNERS: Inclusive Framework for Multidisciplinary Team Conversations
• Assessment of Swallowing in the ICU: Where Do You Start?
• Swallowing Treatment: What’s Next?

Treatment for dysphagia requires a thorough, targeted, and accurate diagnostic workup. A systematic approach to treatment is guided by goals of care and identification of disordered physiologic components. Understanding each of the components and how they relate to treatment outcomes for swallowing is requisite for improving swallowing safety and quality of life. There are intricate relationships between a patient’s comorbidities, medical and/or cognitive changes, and the patient’s medical management that must be considered prior to establishing goals for treatment and patient management. The approach to treatment should include an organized, pragmatic approach. PARTNERS provides a detailed framework necessary to consider patient and multidisciplinary team treatment goals. This course will highlight the physiologic impairments contributing to dysphagia and offer evidence-based guidance for a comprehensive approach to treatment using ICU setting examples.

Learning Objectives

• Evaluate five important physiologic components necessary for swallowing intervention
• Determine an appropriate treatment intervention that considers the interaction between physiologic components
• Design a treatment plan implementing PARTNERS from a case study example