Dysphagia Revisited: A Podcast with Raele Donetha Robison and Nicole Rogus-Pulia
episode
GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast
46 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 9 hours ago
Transcript
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What is dysphagia and how is it defined in clinical practice?
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Welcome to the Jerry Powell podcast. This is Eric Quadera. This is Alex Smith. Alex, we got a great show today on dysphagia Revisited. Who do we have on with us today?
Revisit thick and liquid challenges back, baby. It's gonna be one of
our
topics, huh? It's back to talk about this. We're delighted to welcome Ray Donetha Robison, who is a speech language pathologist and researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ray, welcome to JerryPal.
Thank you. Thank you for having me and having us.
And we're delighted to welcome Nicole Rogas Puglia, who is a speech language pathologist and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Nicole, welcome to JerryPal.
Thanks so much for having us. Excited to be here.
Well, before we talk about dysphagia and revisit it, which is also interesting because this is our first podcast, I think, on dysphagia, but we've talked about it before on JerryPal in our blog. I think someone has a song request for Alex.
I do. I have one. Change blind melon.
Why did you choose this?
Yeah, I thought this would be a really fitting song for today. I mean, the lyrics themselves, I think they're just very true, right? Like life is hard. We have a very finite time here, so we need to make the most of it. But I really resonate with the last part of the song where it says that when life's hard, you have to change. And I think that we're at this kind of crossroads right now in dysphagia and dysphagia management where, you know, our patients are suffering, some of our healthcare systems are hard. and challenging. And I think that it's time that we have a change, we revisit it and make things better for our patients. So yeah.
Lovely. Great choice.
I don't feel the sun's coming out today. Yeah. It's gonna find another way. Yeah. As I sit here in this misery. But I don't think I'll ever know Lord See the sun from here, yeah. And our hoes are Will I look at me and say we'll say And look at him. I'll never live that way, but that's okay. Just afraid of change.
I love podcasts where uh I learn a new song that I like.
That's a fun song. I yeah, I had to go in the most bizarre tuning because I'm still playing with two fingers here. But yeah, that was fun. Thank you.
Impressive. Yeah.
Okay. I need to take a very big step back. We're gonna be talking about dysphagia How should I define dysphagia? What is it?
I think Nicole would do great at answering that one. Yeah.
Hey Nicole.
Yeah.
Happy to start.
The big one.
Yeah. So when we say the term dysphagia, we're referring broadly to swallowing dysfunction or swallowing impairment. Within the scope of the speech pathologist, though, we focus more on what we call oropharyngeal dysphagia, which are impairments in the oral phase of swallowing and the pharyngeal phase. Our imaging techniques do allow us to look at the esophagus as well, mostly the upper esophagus, but esophageal dysfunction is largely managed by gastroenterology. But yeah, so the term dysphagia is sort of broad and then we focus it as a field. Yeah. And
we're gonna be focusing on this podcast with oropharyngeal dysphagia right here, right? For those on YouTube. How common is it and what diseases do we see it in? I think a lot of us know dementia. Either of you willing to take that one?
Yeah, of course. Yeah. So it's fairly common across a lot of different diseases. So as you mentioned, dementia, there's some research to show about 86% or 93% of those individuals will get that. I used to work in uh Lou Gehrig's disease or ALS, for example, very common. So a lot of neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson's disease. Uh, you can also see it in a lot of rheumatological disorders. Um, and then honestly, just common age. aging as well.
How common is oropharyngeal dysphagia across different diseases and settings?
You can start to see swallowing changes. I think there's maybe a little bit of debate as to when those turn from being just normal age related changes to then being something more, but it happens in all many different areas of healthcare.
So right before this podcast started, Alex coughed a little bit as he drank some water.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is dysphagia and how is it defined in clinical practice?
0:00–4:42
2
How common is oropharyngeal dysphagia across different diseases and settings?
4:42–10:31
3
What does a comprehensive bedside dysphagia assessment involve?
10:31–17:07
4
Which imaging studies are used to evaluate swallowing function and why?
17:07–24:01
5
What is the evidence for thickened liquids improving patient‑centered outcomes?
24:01–28:58
6
How do proactive and reactive approaches to dysphagia management differ?
28:58–34:46
7
What rehabilitative techniques (tongue, cough, respiratory training) can improve swallowing?
34:46–40:43
8
When are feeding tubes appropriate and how should goals‑of‑care discussions be integrated?
40:43–46:47
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast
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