The festive season is upon us, bringing with it celebrations aplenty and the joy of family gatherings. For many, it’s a season that’s synonymous with the clinking of glasses; of raising a toast with loved ones and friends, whether that’s a Prosecco, a glass of wine, a seasonal beer or even a special non-alcoholic soda. As a clinician, you know...

Meals and snacks can be a source of anxiety or distress for patients with dysphagia. Not only can eating cause them concerns around possible aspiration and choking, it can often take hours out of the patient’s and their carer’s day, drastically reducing the amount of time they spend on activities that improve their quality of life. For some...

For many patients who live with dysphagia, the summer months can be a dispiriting time. As you know – it’s important they stay hydrated as the temperature rises, and recommending suitable thickening agents and pre-thickened drinks is a crucial element of the patient’s care plan. Yet one of the most frustrating aspects of dysphagia, for patients...

Last week on LinkedIn we read about a podcast created by Theresa Richards, an American Speech Pathologist and specialist in Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders. It discusses medication and the issues for Speech Pathologists (Therapists). It’s well-known Speech Therapists receive a continual flow of referrals when a patient can’t swallow their pills....

We recently read about a course that focused on creating pureed diets produced by Dietitian, Rachael Masters. Passionate about nutrition and a keen interest in dysphagia, Rachael wanted to provide a course that provides useful information and practical advice for caterers and people living at home. We therefore wanted to share what she has done...

The signs and symptoms of dysphagia are familiar to Speech and Language Therapists/ Pathologists and Dietitians that see dysphagia patients daily. However, as you know, outside this sphere there are a huge number of health care professionals that are not. They may be unaware of how dysphagia can impact a patient’s recovery care plan. As a result,...

Is a milkshake the perfect thickened drink? As you know, dysphagia patients struggle to stay hydrated. There’s lots of reasons for it and one of the main ones is they don’t like the texture of thickened drinks. A glass of juice, a cup of tea or coffee with thickener is strange because it’s not what they expect. We thought the best way to overcome...

As you know, every dysphagia patient must have their swallowing difficulty assessed by a Speech and Language Therapist/Pathologist. However, making thickened drinks that flo slo enough to match all the IDDSI Levels 1, 2 and 3 takes time. To complicate matters, water is preferred for assessment but some patients just don’t like the look of thickener...

“Geriatric Giants: A term coined by geriatrician Bernard Isaacs, and the expression refers to the principal chronic disabilities of old age that impact on the physical, mental and social domains of older adults”. Dysphagia is a big issue. Estimates suggest there are currently over 590,000,000 around the world suffering with it. As a result, David...

As you know the IDDSI www.iddsi.org has been adopted here in the UK. Created to simplify descriptions of thickened drinks and pureed foods, it provides a common language for patients, carers and healthcare professionals.  Because it is so important, we invited one of the board members based here in the UK – Ben Hanson – to join us on our podcast...

As we all know, swallowing medicinal pills and capsules is difficult for those with dysphagia. However, we wanted to discover why they struggle and conducted a survey with pharmacists.    The no. 1 reason given was, “I think I will choke or gag on them”.   In addition, we learnt that this doesn’t just affect patients with swallowing difficulties...

  Those with dysphagia struggle to eat enough to maintain their essential nutritional intake and that compromises their micro-nutrient intake or essential vitamins. We’ve therefore created Slõ Vitamin Drops. The first are common deficiencies in dysphagia patients, Vitamin C and Vitamin D3 & K2. Vitamin C – also known as the Sunshine vitamin...

We recently came across the above paper via Pere Clave on LinkedIn. He is the Director of Research, Innovation and Academic Development. Hospital de Mataró, Catalonia, Spain. With a special interest in Dysphagia he is the founding member of the European Society for Swallowing Disorders. The objective was to review literature available and to define...

We have been recently heard that there are concerns over the parallel imports of thickeners and thickened oral nutritional supplements and their labelling. As it was something new to us, it might be new to you too and so thought we should share it with the aim of raising awareness and suggesting that the outer IDDSI labelled packaging matches the...

As you know the IDDSI (www.IDDSI.org) Framework has been in place in the UK for a few years now and recently a range of UK based IDDSI focused healthcare and business professionals have come together to form the UK IDDSI reference group (UKIRG).  I am a member of the group. The aim of the group is to build on the implementation work completed since...

We were recently made aware of this course and want to share it with you.   Having discussed it with Barbara – the Principal Pathologist – we are sure it will be useful to you or those you work with as it covers lots of issues faced by Care Staff.  Consequently, we asked Barbara to provide a summary for you before you visit: safeswallowing.com.au  “The...

IDDSI Level 1, Slightly Thick flow rate is increasingly being prescribed to patients. It provides a perfect last step for a patient to progress onto ordinary – thin fluids. Whilst transitioning to thin fluids, patients can still need to supplement their nutritional intake. As a direct result we created our Slõ Milkshakes+ ONS at IDDSI Level 1. They...