Swallow Your Pride Podcast

From educating restaurant staff to bringing recipes to support groups, it’s important to humanize dysphagia care. 

And when it comes to fostering that approach with the head and neck cancer population, Theresa Yao, SLPD, MEd, MS, CCC-SLP will be the first to speak up!

Tune into this week’s episode of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast podcast to explore a holistic approach to managing dysphagia. Going beyond the bedside, Theresa shares the importance of considering personal factors, environment, and social participation alongside the swallowing impairment itself. 

What does it mean to create a dysphagia-friendly community? How can you advocate for it? What extra steps can you take to help your patients with head and neck cancer - or dysphagia in general - feel more empowered? 

Grab your notepad and prepare to get inspired. You won’t want to miss this!

Get the show notes for this episode here: https://syppodcast.com/313

Timestamps:

Theresa Yao's background (00:01:21)

The post 313 – The Human Behind the Dysphagia: A Holistic Approach for Head and Neck Cancer Patients appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

Have you ever wondered how much you can actually do as an SLP when it comes to dementia care?

One of the most common misconceptions about dementia care in general is that not much can be done. It’s a progressive disease after all, right?

This is where medical SLPs can shine, and Adria Thompson, MA, CCC-SLP is here to talk about it! Adria is a dementia consultant who teamed up with an OT to create a dementia program and traveled around to different facilities to teach this program.

In this week’s episode of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast, Theresa and Adria explore the importance of understanding dementia stages and supporting caregivers. They address misconceptions about therapy for patients with dementia and cover recent changes in billing that allow for caregiver training without the patient present, including the potential for caregivers to receive financial support for their services. 

If you support individuals with dementia and their caregivers in any capacity, you won’t want to miss this episode!

Get the show notes at: https://syppodcast.com/312

Timestamps:

The need for better dementia care (00:02:36)

The post 312 – Navigating Dementia Care as an SLP: Tips and Insights from a Dementia Consultant appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

“Wherever you're working, whatever setting you're working in, whatever profession you are, if you're working with humans, you should be trauma-informed.”

Rachel Archambault, MA, CCC-SLP dropped ALL the mics within the first three minutes of our discussion in today’s episode of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast!

Trauma-informed care, empathy, and just the human touch are all crucial in our profession, but there’s an obvious tension between meeting productivity standards and providing this level of care. It’s palpable. Does our current productivity model harm the quality of care we can provide?

What does trauma-informed care look like, and what can we actually do to make it work without stressing over time-based codes and RVUs?

Tune in to this week’s discussion and see what Rachel has to say about it and join her call to action!

Get the show notes: https://syppodcast.com/311

Introduction (00:00:02)

The post 311 – Compassion Over Metrics: Prioritizing Trauma-Informed Care as Medical SLPs appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever received orders to see a patient with head and neck cancer AFTER they’ve started (or completed) radiation and/or surgery.

A million times yes.

It’s one of those common cases where speech-language pathology is an afterthought.

But in reality, we should be brought into the discussion before any treatment begins!

Katie Moore is all too familiar with this, which is why she passionately advocated for a head and neck cancer program in her department AND for specialized training to address complex impairments (like post-radiation fibrosis and lymphedema.)

Tune in to this week’s episode of The Swallow Your Pride Podcast to hear how Katie implemented a new program and rallied for support for SLPs to achieve the level of training they deserve.

Oh, and get ready to feel a surge of inspiration!

Download the show notes at: https://syppodcast.com/310

Timestamps:

Challenges in Healthcare Administration (00:02:01)

The post 310 – No Longer the Afterthought: Developing a HNC program and funding for specialized training appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

Imagine walking into a room where a team of physicians, physical therapists, and dietitians are sitting at the table discussing wound care.

Would you pause and slowly back out the door, hoping no one noticed?

Or would you pull up a seat at the table and join the discussion?

Ashley Muñoz López not only pulls up a seat, but she builds a bigger table!

In this episode of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast, host Theresa Richard and guest Ashley Muñoz López, MBA, MS, CCC-SLP, BCSS, discuss the importance of integrating speech-language pathology into the broader healthcare ecosystem. They focus on wound care prevention in the ICU, with Ashley sharing her experience of being nominated for a team quality and safety award for her efforts in this area.

Tune into this episode to understand your roles as an SLP when it comes to preventing wounds in the ICU, interdisciplinary considerations, and HOW you can snag that seat at the wound care table.

[powerpress]

Get the show notes: https://sypodcast.com/309

The award for team quality and safety (00:02:17)

The post 309 – From Bedside to Bedsores: How Can Speech Therapy Help Prevent Wounds in the ICU? appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

You know when a patient complains about swallowing difficulty and you do an instrumental, but everything looks fine?

Excuse my lack of eloquence here, but…what the heck?

This is often referred to as functional dyspahgia, and in this week’s episode of The Swallow Your Pride Podcast, I had the absolute joy of talking about it with Jaimie Anderson MS, CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS.

Together we discuss the challenges that come with significant swallowing complaints that don’t align with swallow studies, what functional dysphagia is, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options. Jaimie even throws in an analogy to help us better understand this mystery.

Tune in and let us know what you think!

Get the show notes: https://syppodcast.com/307

Timestamps:

The challenges of diagnosing and treating patients with significant swallowing complaints (00:03:11)

The post 307- The Curious Case of Functional Dysphagia: What to do when the swallow looks fine, but doesn’t feel fine. appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

So you want to work in the NICU.

First of all - cheers to that! You have a major goal to help some of the most fragile (but also resilient) tiny humans we can help, which is exciting and inspirational!

But how the heck do you do it? What does the journey of a non-NICU SLP look like while becoming a NICU SLP?

Khaki Brown, MS CCC-SLP, CNT is here to help!

Khaki is an SLP and NICU infant feeding specialist who dedicates part of her time supporting new SLPs in their journey towards helping medically fragile infants through her business, Khaki Feeds Babies. In this episode of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast, you’ll learn about the challenges and rewards of working in the NICU, the importance of continuing education, and the significance of building relationships within the field.

Brown shares her journey from wanting to be a teacher to becoming an SLP and provides tips for those interested in working in the NICU. This episode leans hard into the importance of self-learning, mentorship, and understanding the developmental needs of infants in the NICU.

Get the show notes at: https://syppodcast.com/308

Timestamps:

Khaki's Journey to the NICU (00:02:27)

The post 308 – Becoming a NICU SLP: Tips, Strategies, Suggestions, and More with Khaki Brown appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

Calling all pediatric MedSLPs who want to grow their therapy skills!

The FREE MedSLP Summit is just around the corner, and we’re dedicating an entire DAY to pediatric MedSLP therapy approaches on Sunday, December 3rd!

Curious about myofunctional therapy? Want to improve your pediatric AAC skills? Maybe you want to see what MedSLPs are doing today for feeding therapy from NICU to toddlerhood (and beyond).

Today’s Swallow Your Pride Podcast episode will introduce you to four of the speakers you’ll be learning from on Sunday! I’ve interviewed them in the past because I knew they were making massive impacts on our field, so today I’ll be replaying portions of those episodes.

Get to know them a bit! Find out what they specialize in, what their experience has been like, and what they’ve been up to.

Don’t forget to register for the FREE MedSLP Summit at www.medslpcollective.com/summit so you can absorb up to *seven* hours of pediatric medical SLP therapy brilliance!

Go to https://syppodcast.com/306 to get the links to the full episodes of all these speakers.

The post 306 – Look Who’s Talking Part 2: Get to Know Some of Our Pediatric MedSLP Summit Speakers appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

Pssst...did you know that the FREE MedSLP Summit is happening this weekend?

It's online...up to 14 hours of education...and 100% dedicated to today's therapy approaches (the what, the how, the why, the wow). And YES, a recording WILL be available to catch the replay!

But who the heck is speaking? What's their background? Are they like...cool and knowledgeable?

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

In today's episode of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast, I'm going to introduce you to 5 of the brilliant and kind MedSLPs who will be speaking for this weekend's MedSLP Summit. I'm bringing back clips from prior discussions I've had with them on the show so you can get a sneak peek into their background and their passion. Today's episode will focus on some of our adult-focused speakers who will be presenting on Saturday, December 2nd.

You'll quickly learn why the MedSLP community loves them! Don't forget: you can grow your therapy skills with them this weekend when you register for the MedSLP Summit at https://medslpcollective.com/summit

Visit https://syppodast.com/305 for full episode links to these podcasts.

The post 305 – Look Who’s Talking: A Blast From the Past with Some of Our Brilliant Summit Speakers appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.

So you have a patient with dysphagia…what do you immediately start considering?

Diagnosis…comorbidities…past medical history…past surgical history…current diet recs…

☝️Those are the typical go-to “textbook” checklist items, but there are other incredibly important considerations that will affect how you evaluate and treat your patient. These considerations impact your clinical recommendations and what matters most to your patients - and they deserve to be honored.

I’m talking about cultural and religious considerations in dysphagia - which is exactly what Michelle Weber Dehgan MA, CCC-SLP, BCS-S & Kiana Gardner MA, CCC-SLP dive into this on this week’s episode of the Swallow Your Pride Podcast!

Together, we discuss the importance of cultural sensitivity in managing dysphagia. Michelle and Kiana highlight the significance of considering patients' cultural preferences, dietary restrictions, and access to food during evaluations and treatment recommendations. They share the results of a survey conducted among SLPs that highlight the challenges in accommodating nutritional preferences and religious and cultural beliefs.

Tune in, take notes, and talk about what you learn with colleagues!

Get the show notes at https://syppodcast.com/304

The importance of considering cultural preferences (00:04:34)

The post 304 – Cultural Sensitivity in Dysphagia: Nourishing Patients Beyond Nutrition appeared first on Swallow Your Pride Podcast.