[Dysphagia] NOMS

[eripley at yahoo.com (Irene Campbell-Taylor)]

It must be recognized, as is described in the overview of NOMS that it cannot verify that any change is due to SLP intervention. Too much credit for improvement has been taken with stroke patients, the vast majority of whom improve spontaneously. Improvement re swallowing could not be simpler: Is the patient eating/drinking more? Gaining weight? Improving immune status? all of which are easily verifiable. What more does one need?Incidence or prevalence of pneumonia is NOT a variable here.
  The NOMS reads as follows:
   
  Ethically, clinicians cannot withhold treatment from patients in need of SLP intervention. As a result, there are no control groups. The result of that, in turn, means that NOMS data cannot establish causality. The data show what patients are able to do upon the completion of SLP intervention, but cannot conclusively show, in the absence of patient controls, that the level of functionality was due to SLP intervention.


Dr I Campbell-Taylor
Clinical Neuroscientist
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