[Dysphagia] Esophageal disorders and oropharyngeal dysphagia

[mary.joan.mcclure at ncmail.net (Mary Joan McClure)]

Michel Sanscartier wrote:

> In the US and in Canada, the SLPs are not thought anything below the
> cricopharyngeal sphincter unless they have some kind of continuing education
> courses. BUT, the digestive system can't be learned in a one or 2 days
> conferences nor dysphagia as you all know.
>
> I have looked in a lot of Universty's programs across America and I have not
> seen one University that gives any kind of teaching in the treatment of the
> digestive system.

Beware of generalizations. In my graduate dysphagia course, I had indepth
instruction in (and was evaluated for my understanding of) musculature and
innervation of the esophagus. Course readings included diseases of the esophagus.
That same teacher hosted practicum placements in which we regularly followed the
bolus through the esophagus during VFSS, and tagged along during referrals to the
gastroenterologists. By the way, he also included lectures about the immune system
in general, as he wanted us to understand that nothing within the body happens
independently. It should be noted that those very important components of that
Dysphagia course are not explictly stated in the course descriptions on the
university website, so you have incorrectly assumed that your "looking into"
university programs yielded conclusive evidence that SLPs don't learn about the
digestive system. All that being said, I always include one of our facility's
dieticians in my swallowing evaluations and decisions regarding diet
modifications, and I do not defend my fellow SLPs who overstep the bounds of their
scope of practice or professional knowledge.

Mary Joan McClure