E18 Cognitive Dysphagia and the Five Systems That Impact Swallowing with Dr Megan Parsons
Dysphagia Research BitesShow Notes
Is it a case of trouble with swallowing or trouble with eating? In this episode, Dr Megan Parsons, medical speech-language pathologist, unpacks a framework that changed how she thinks about swallowing problems. Chantelle and Megan explore why “dysphagia” isn’t always a problem of the swallow itself, and why working out what is driving the difficulty might be the most important clinical question we ask. If you’ve ever documented “dysphagia” without being sure what was driving it, this episode is for you.
In this episode we cover: What cognitive dysphagia is, and what it looks like at mealtimes Why a patient can have intact swallowing anatomy and physiology and still not eat Whether “cognitive dysphagia” belongs across populations, including adults with developmental and intellectual disability A systems-based framework for dysphagia and how it shifts assessment, chart review and documentation When the swallow isn’t the problem, and how to flag concerns outside our scope without handballing the patient How to look for respiratory contributors to dysphagia during a clinical swallow evaluation How to see natural eating behaviour in a hospital setting, and why involving family matters The role of clinical reasoning in what makes us pathologists, not just therapists
The publication this episode is based on: Winchester, J & Winchester, C (2015). Cognitive dysphagia and effectively managing the five systems. Perspectives on Gerontology, 20(3), 116–132. You can access the article here: http://dysphagiamanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CognitiveDysphagia_Winchester_2015.pdf
For more clinical resources and evidence-based dysphagia education beyond the podcast, head to: www.dysphagiabites.com
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