Impacts of a Dysphagia Screening Questionnaire on Speech Pathology Input Using a Transdisciplinary Approach for...

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in pulmonary rehabilitation programs (PRPs) are not routinely screened for dysphagia. An Australian regional health service audit revealed that patients with COPD are frequently referred to speech pathology during acute admissions, rather than proactively to mitigate the risk of dysphagia-related consequences. Referral patterns to speech pathology using a novel transdisciplinary approach for identifying at risk for dysphagia patients in a PRP were explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a transdisciplinary dysphagia screening questionnaire on speech pathology referrals within a cohort of patients with COPD enrolled in a PRP. This quasi-experimental study introduced a dysphagia screening questionnaire in a PRP using a transdisciplinary approach. A retrospective audit of PRP patients (n = 563) between 01/01/2014 and 31/12/2018 was conducted to identify the frequency of referrals to speech pathology for dysphagia. Data was compared to a cohort of patients (n = 50) enrolled in the PRP (from 01/02/21 to 30/11/21) after introduction of the questionnaire using Fisher's exact test. Less than 1% (n = 4/563) of PRP patients were referred to speech pathology prior to implementation of the questionnaire. Following the implementation, referrals to speech pathology significantly increased to 16% (8/50) (X² = 7.72, P < 0.05; odds ratio = 7.89 95% CI [1.94, 32.1]). Introducing a dysphagia screening questionnaire increased referrals to speech pathology from a PRP. This study demonstrated the potential for a transdisciplinary approach in early screening for patients at risk of dysphagia for patients with COPD. Further research is encouraged to explore patient motivation towards speech pathology input with COPD-related dysphagia and clinicians' perceived self-efficacy in using the questionnaire.