Center for the Future of Health Professions Feb. 2023 digest
Posted: February 15, 2023
The Center for the Future of the Health Professions will post its second monthly op-ed column in the new year. Our columns represent strong, informed, focused opinions on issues affecting the health professions’ future. As mentioned previously, the center was developed to provide state, local, and national policymakers and health system stakeholders with accurate, reliable, and comprehensive data and research about the healthcare workforce to effectively plan for a sustainable future and make the best use of available resources.
This month we feature an article by Maria Centeno-Vazquez, PhD, CCC-SHP, BCS-S, on the speech-language pathology profession and student training at A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Health Sciences (ATSU-ASHS). Dr. Centeno-Vazquez has a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. She is skilled in swallowing disorders, voice and neurocognitive disorders, research, lecturing, and public speaking. She has a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from The University of Cincinnati and focuses on communication sciences and disorders. She is a board-certified specialist in swallowing and swallowing disorders.
Dr. Centeno-Vasquez is the program director and an associate professor at ATSU-ASHS. Previously, she was program director and associate professor at the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico for two years and the speech-language pathology and speech-language therapy programs director at the School of Health Sciences at Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, for seven years. Additionally, for four years she was director at the Caribbean Neurocognitive Comprehensive Center for treatment, research, and community services. The center provides services for adults and members of the geriatric population with swallowing disorders.
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are experts in communication. They work with people of all ages, from babies to adults, and treat many types of communication and swallowing problems. SLPs also work on issues with speech sounds, or how we say sounds and put sounds together into words. SLPs are in great need across the United States to support individuals in diverse environments.
We look forward to your comments on this month’s digest.
Randy Danielsen, PhD, DHL(h), PA-C Emeritus, DFAAPA
Professor & Director
The Center for the Future of the Health Professions
A.T. Still University
The speech-language pathology profession and student training at ATSU-ASHS
The U.S. News and World Report ranked speech-language pathologist as number 31 in its 100 Best Jobs of 2023. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job opportunities in speech-language pathology are expected to grow by 29% between 2020 and 2030, far outpacing the average for all occupations. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) represents 188,143 certified speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The demand for SLPs will continue to climb with population growth and the increase in average life expectancy. In addition, there is now significant awareness of the need for early intervention services and the prevention of speech and language disorders that will spur the demand for these professionals.3
The act of communication is an essential activity for humans and individuals will require practical and sophisticated communication skills in most of their daily activities. The comprehension and use of language will demand refined neurological performance for one person to communicate with another. The physiological and neurological mechanisms used for speaking and swallowing can easily be affected secondary to illness, congenital conditions, neurological disorders, cancer, or physical trauma, among many other possible medical conditions. In addition, with an increase of individuals over 65 years of age, there will be an increase of speech-language pathology services to meet the communication and swallowing needs of older individuals who suffer from several medical conditions such as strokes, traumatic brain injuries, dementia, and Parkinson’s, among other chronic conditions.
The survival rate of premature infants is also increasing, resulting in the need for SLPs who specialize in managing fragile infants with communication, swallowing, and feeding disorders. Some infants are born with medical conditions, such as cleft lip and palate, and other congenital anomalies that result in speech, language, and swallowing issues that can directly affect their daily living skills, development, and social and educational performance. Therefore, early intervention services are critical and in constant demand. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, school-age student enrollments continue to rise. This will result in the need to provide individualized services related to the range and severity of disorders and for students from various ethnicities and cultures. Federal law guarantees special education and related services to all eligible children with disabilities; thus, there is a high demand for school based SLPs to provide services for children with disabilities and from diverse backgrounds.
SLPs incorporate modifications to provide services using best practices for diverse clients. It is imperative to use interpreters and modified assessment and treatment protocols according to the client’s background and individual needs. Best practice for delivering services to diverse clients includes active interprofessional collaboration among clinicians. Issues related to the accessibility of services for people in remote or rural areas are of high importance as well. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic created opportunities to innovate and develop new ways of preparing clinicians to provide clinical services using modified delivery methods such as telepractice. Telepractice has now become a staple of service delivery for SLPs.
The speech-language pathology profession continues to evolve secondary to recent historical events and changes in the U.S. demographics. SLPs are in great need across the United States to support individuals in diverse environments across the age span. SLPs are essential healthcare providers in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, private practice clinics, homecare services, skilled nursing facilities, and educational settings. There is a high demand for SLPs to be prepared to provide services to bilingual clients and to use culturally responsive practice principles.4 SLPs are also ready to use the most advanced equipment and instrumentation to conduct state-of-the-art evaluations and treat patients with communication and swallowing disorders.
The future of the speech-language pathology profession is focused on refining and increasing the quality-of-service provision in areas like telehealth, interprofessional collaborative practices,1 and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).2 SLPs are expected to increase their clinical practices in the previously mentioned areas while engaging in interprofessional collaborative practices. Future SLPs need to be innovative, creative, and flexible to provide global services to diverse clients to address challenges and changes due to societal, humanitarian, or health crises as we advance into the future. Another imperative trend is the need for more specialized clinicians to support client-specific needs. Therefore, several board recognition groups have been advocating and promoting training to supply the demand for board-certified clinicians.
The Master of Science program in speech-language pathology at A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Health Sciences (ATSU-ASHS) prepares students to become whole-person healthcare providers in alignment with the mission of the university and its osteopathic heritage. The pedagogy of multicultural education is a cornerstone of this program, with a significant emphasis on SLP training and the delivery of bilingual services. The curriculum focuses on addressing diversity issues through culturally responsive practices and using competency-based methods with interpreters to provide ethical services to individuals from linguistically diverse backgrounds. Curriculum content will prepare students to be proficient in using the most advanced equipment and instrumentation to conduct evaluations and treatments of patients with communication and swallowing disorders.
Students also will master telepractice methodologies and technology to meet the needs of clients from underserved, diverse, rural, and global communities. ATSU’s speech-language pathology program also allows students to understand and participate in activities with interprofessional practitioners (IPP), adhering to IPP principles in delivering services to individuals with speech, language, and swallowing disorders. Graduates of the ATSU-ASHS speech-language pathology program will become the next generation of scholars and leaders who will make a global impact.
References
1 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Asha’s envisioned future: 2025. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Retrieved January 16, 2023, from https://www.asha.org/about/ashas-envisioned-future/
2 Regan, J. (2023, January 14). Asha outlines advocacy and policy priorities for 2023. ASHA. Retrieved January 16, 2023, from https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/2023-advocacy-goals-aud-slp/full/
3 Future outlook: Speech-language pathology. ASHA Career Portal. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16, 2023, from https://careers.asha.org/getting-started/future-job-outlook-speech-language-pathology
4 Hyter, Y. D., & Salas-Provance, M. B. (2021). Culturally responsive practices in speech, language, and hearing sciences. Plural Publishing.