Importance of Inter-Professional Collaboration in Early Dysphagia Screening

Discussion 3
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Number and Name
Instructor’s Name
Date
Discussion 3
The delivery of healthcare services requires inter-professional collaborations to ensure patients’ needs are met. While planning and developing my practicum project on early dysphagia screening for stroke patients, I have learned how important inter-professional collaboration is and how useful it will be in implementing and evaluating my practicum project. As part of planning and developing my project, I connected with speech and language pathologists who gave me insight into their role in dysphagia screening and assessment. They also shared insights on what nurses can do to assess or screen stroke patients for dysphagia in the absence of speech and language pathologists. As McGinnis et al. (2018) indicate, speech and language pathologists understand the oropharyngeal anatomy and are well-equipped to provide individualized care plans that meet patients’ specific goals. The knowledge and expertise they shared with me will be incorporated in the planning phase of my project to ensure that the right dysphagia screening or assessment tools are available, as well as the informal methods that can be used in the emergency department to screen dysphagia in the absence of a formal protocol.
As I plan and develop my practicum project, I will be able to address quality improvement and safety. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) (2011), a master’s-prepared nurse should be able to address quality improvement and safety by incorporating a culture of safety and adhering to quality standards. Through my project practicum, I will research and identify best practices for dysphagia screening and recommend them as part of the quality improvement and safety. I will also evaluate the reliability and eff...