My Dissertation Adventure!

Dissertation Blog Post 1

This week’s blog post is a little different from my traditional posts. As some of you may know, this past fall, I started my journey to earn a professional doctorate at Nova Southeastern University! This semester we have two classes Methods of Inquiry and Business Management and Leadership. Within our Methods of Inquiry class we have the opportunity to start our research! One of our first assignments consisted of creating a dissertation blog, a place where we can share our thoughts/outlines of our dissertation. My professor gave me permission to include this within this current blog! So without further adieu I present to you my problem statement and a peak into the research to support it!

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Working in an outpatient rehabilitation facility has given me the opportunity to see patients referred for modified barium swallow studies from various skilled nursing facilities and rarely home health care. These swallow studies can at times be difficult to complete. Sometimes at the last minute the patient is unable to come due to transportation difficulties or not having a care provider with the patient during the study. It is our hospital policy that a member from the patient’s skilled nursing facility must be present, available, and responsible for the patient 100% of the time. Obviously, this may not always be possible for a facility.

Outside of personal experience, evidence shows various reasons why patients from skilled nursing facilities and home health care may have difficulty in participation in modified barium swallow studies. In some cases, general access to a hospital with the capability to perform modified barium swallow studies may not be available (Groher & Crary, 2010, p. 203). Even if access is available, Bottino-Bravo and Thomson in their 2008 article “When It’s a Hard Act to Swallow, reported that patients from home health care may have difficulty even getting to participate in an instrumental evaluation of the swallow due to the time needed to obtain an order from the physician. Other complications included concerns of the patient’s physical health such as extreme weakness or obesity, and the possibility of insurance not covering the evaluation. Farnet and Consolmango (2007), recognize that due to expense and the act of changing settings it may be difficult or impossible for patients with dysphagia in skilled nursing facilities to participate in modified barium swallow studies. It is from this evidence that I have formulated the below problem statement for my research.

The problem to be addressed in this study is that access to instrumental tools for a comprehensive diagnosis of dysphagia, specifically modified barium swallow studies, is difficult for patients within home health and skilled nursing facilities.

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Be sure to stay tuned in for later posts where I reveal my hypothesis! With the help of my professor, classmates, and maybe some of you, I am excited to see this dissertation develop!

Resources

Bottino-Bravo, P., & Thomson, J. (2008, April 26). When It's a Hard Act to Swallow. Retrieved January 17, 2015, from https://www.blossomfoods.com/pdfs/hard_act_to_swallow.pdf

Farneti, D., & Consolmagno, P. (2007, August 1). The Swallowing Centre: Rationale for a multidisciplinary management. Retrieved January 17, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2640030/table/T5/

Groher, M., & Crary, M. (2010). Instrumental Swallowing Examinations: Videofluoroscopy and Endoscopy. In Dysphagia: Clinical management in adults and children (p. 203). Maryland Heights, Mo.: Mosby Elsevier.

Hatley, L. (n.d.). The Best Dissertation is the One That's Finished! Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://www.leshellhatley.com/2010/09/the-best-dissertation-is-the-one-thats-finished/#!prettyPhoto