Swallowing assessment in a MC facility

CanyonGal

When my mother was in the hospital and in rehab, the speech and language therapist did the swallowing assessments. Currently, she is in a memory care unit where there is no RN but CNAs. She is also under hospice, who do have nurse case managers who do weekly checkups or are on call as needed.

Does hospice have speech and language therapists to do swallowing assessments or is where you invite an outside evaluation to see if a dementia patient has lost that ability?

harshedbuzz

Canyon-

My dad's MCF sounds very similar to what you are describing in terms of the kind of staffing used. The DON was an LPN working towards his RN; there was a SNF owned by the same parent company that could sent RNs over if needed.

Dad didn't have hospice, but the DON did call and arrange a SLP to come evaluate dad's swallowing. I live in a medically well-served area; the DON had a short list of SLPs who were available for consults. He was able to arrange an eval in less than a day.

HB

SDianeL

I would call Hospice and ask them. They should be able to do that or get someone who can.