Here are some examples of poor, better and best responses for this worksheet provided by previous students.
What profession and what interaction did you observe?
What exactly did the professional do with the patient/client?
Provided different food/fluid textures to patient and monitored for signs of aspiration – via hand on trachea & listening.
What was the goal of the interaction for the professional you observed?
From your observation of the patient/client experience, what was the impact of the interaction?
Patient made gurgling sounds and had difficulty clearing throat on thin fluids & mildly thick. Thus patient was placed on moderately thickened fluids.
What are the patient/client’s issues that relate to your profession’s area of practice?
Thickened fluid diet means a change in what supplements can be offered. People often eat and drink less and I will need to monitor hydration and nutritional intake and make appropriate interventions.
Compared with your profession’s role, were there any overlaps in roles? Similarities in approaches to care? Differences?
Similar style of approach but she is involved in determining the TEXTURE appropriate for the patient. Whereas dietitian determines if the nutritional profile is appropriate.
How can you see yourself, in your professional role working with and learning from the profession observed?
I think as a hospital dietitian, especially if working with people – for example – who are ageing have neurological problems or certain types of disability/s, that we will work closely together to optimize nutritional care and status.
How may this observation assist you in providing patient/client care?
I have an improved understanding of HOW the SP assesses for swallowing at the bedside and now I will feel more confident when referring to SP (eg: if I hear a patient coughing when drinking).