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The article discusses the importance of pointing out cost savings in helping convince administrators at post-acute care settings of the value of instrumental swallow studies. Topics include one of the most important ways speech language pathologists (SLPs) can advocate for patients with dsyphagia, and ways to calculate costs related to dsyphagia and readmission rates specific to one's facility.

The article provides guidance for clinicians on assessment and care of people with eating and drinking difficulties. Topics discussed include remarks from Chief Admiral Nurse and chief executive of Dementia UK Hilda Hayo, determinants of successful eating and drinking, and explanation on risk feeding.

The article discusses how clinicians may determine the need for instrumental swallowing assessment in infants and children with swallowing disorders. Topics explored include the evaluation of structural and functional aspects of swallowing in order to provide effective treatment, the advantages and disadvantages of videofluoroscopic swallow study (VFSS) and fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) strategies, and the clinical feeding evaluation being performed prior to FEES.

The article discusses the role of speech-language pathologists (SLP) in lowering the risk for choking. Topics covered include factors affecting a person's risk of choking, characteristics of food that pose the higher risk of choking, and role of SLPs in the assessment and treatment of choking. Suggested choking-prevention strategies for parents are also offered.

Foreign body ingestion and foreign body aspiration commonly affect children. The most vulnerable age is between six months and four years, when children tend to explore new objects with their mouths. Many of these events remain asymptomatic, with the swallowed object passing through the gastrointestinal tract without causing harm. However, the frequency of serious complications as a result of the ingestion of hazardous objects has increased in recent years, in particular button batteries and magnets. To increase the likelihood of identifying foreign body ingestion and aspiration, healthcare professionals should maintain a high index of suspicion, be aware of the variation in presentations and include it as a differential diagnosis in children presenting with non-specific symptoms, such as fever, cough, drooling, dysphagia and abdominal pain. Management of most foreign body ingestions is conservative, using a 'watch-and-wait' approach. Children should be triaged as an emergency if they have signs or symptoms of airway obstruction or a history that indicates dangerous foreign body ingestion. Early recognition and management leads to improved outcomes for patients. Nurses have a vital role in providing education and practical advice to parents, which reduces the occurrence of these events. Stronger legislation is required to ensure manufacturers emphasise the potential dangers of certain products and design child-safe devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about the lively debates and panel discussions to be presented at the "2016 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Convention" to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Topics covered include the debate titled "From Silence to Effective Communication," the panel discussion titled "Are We Over-Modifying Diets?" and the debate titled "Finding the Right Words."

The article discusses the possibility for people with dementia to safely eat their favorite foods. Topics covered include symptoms that increase risk of aspiration for people with dementia, predictors of aspiration pneumonia and the suggested changes in the auditory, visual ad cognitive aspects of the dining environment to help people with memory loss eat independently and safely. INSETS: Small Changes, Big Differences;‘Eat Slowly': A Look at Spaced Retrieval;When Patient and Clinician Disagree.

The article presents an interview with American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) online dysphagia conference presenters Brenda Arend and Kate Krival about dysphagia in palliative care. They discuss questions or prompts that they find useful in trying to elicit information or guide the conversation, and their view on milk-based products if patient has thick mucus but will only take milk-based products.

The article reports on side effects, including dysphagia, which are often seen in patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer as a result of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. A discussion of the role that a collaboration between nursing and speech-language professionals and an oncology nurse coordinator plays in the management of side effects linked to cancer treatment and in the prevention of chronic dysphagia is presented.

The article offers information related to dysphagia. It says that the study conducted by researchers in Spain examines the effectiveness of posture in preventing aspiration in patients with neurogenic dysphagia using videofluoroscopy. It mentions that the study by researchers in Japan shows that silent aspiration of saliva in elderly patients living in nursing home is a significant risk for both pneumonia and body weight loss.