Dysphagia training for speech-language pathologists: Implications for clinical practice

Abstract

There are competency standards available in countries with established speech-language pathology services to guide basic dysphagia training with ongoing workplace mentoring for advanced skills development. Such training processes however are not as well established in countries where speech-language pathology training and practice is relatively new such as Malaysia. The current study examines the extent of dysphagia training and workplace support available to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in Malaysia and Queensland, Australia, and explores clinicians' perceptions of the training and support provided, and of their knowledge, skills and confidence. Using a matched cohort cross-sectional design, a purpose built survey was administered to 30 SLPs working in Malaysian government hospitals and 30 SLPs working in Queensland Health settings in Australia. Malaysian clinicians were found to have received significantly less university training, less mentoring in the workplace and were lacking key infrastructure needed to support professional development in dysphagia management. Over 90% of Queensland clinicians were confident and felt they had adequate skills in dysphagia management, in contrast, significantly lower levels of knowledge, skills and confidence were observed in the Malaysian cohort. The findings identify a need for improved university training and increased opportunities for workplace mentoring, training and support for Malaysian SLPs.

Evaluation of a Professional Development Model for Enhancing Knowledge, Skill and Confidence in Dysphagia Management

“…Recent research has confirmed that Malaysian clinicians currently have poor computer access, unreliable internet reception and lack of access to online journals or internet web browsing (Mustaffa Kamal et al 2012;Sharma et al 2010). Hence the professional development model developed for the current context consisted of 16 hours of dysphagia education delivered in four, face to face 4-hour workshops run once per week over four consecutive weekends.…”

“…In light of recent findings which have reported that Malaysian SLPs had reduced levels of knowledge, skills and confidence in managing dysphagia largely due to minimal training and clinical support opportunities (Mustaffa Kamal et al 2012;Sharma et al 2006), the current study aimed to address these training needs in order to help facilitate the development of dysphagia services in Malaysia. In particular, the current study is an evaluation of a professional development model that incorporates various methods into teaching theoretical and practical application of knowledge.…”

“…These factors were seen as impacting on their preparedness for clinical care of this population. Acknowledging these shortfalls, it was not surprising then that the Malaysian clinicians surveyed expressed the desire to undertake further training in the area (Mustaffa Kamal et al 2012).…”

“…More recent research into the level of clinical training received by and confidence of 30 Malaysian clinicians has highlighted that there continues to be significant issues regarding their levels of training, knowledge, skill and confidence in dysphagia management (Mustaffa Kamal et al 2012). In particular, this most recent study revealed that the Malaysian clinicians received limited hours of formal education focused on dysphagia with minimal opportunities for mentoring/supervision prior to beginning independent practice as compared to international standards (Mustaffa Kamal et al 2012). These factors were seen as impacting on their preparedness for clinical care of this population.…”

“…Whilst other work has suggested pedagogical elements which may be beneficial to incorporate into dysphagia training (Scholten 2001), no studies to date have formally evaluated the benefits of offering professional development training in dysphagia management to SLPs. In Malaysia particularly, where workplace support and access to the computer and internet are limited (Mustaffa Kamal et al 2012), the development of a training model need to take into account these limitations.…”