Teaching Speech Pathology Students the Interpretation of Videofluoroscopic Swallowing Studies

Abstract

This article examines a teaching package that was designed to cover the progression of skills agreed to by clinicians and educators as being pertinent to interpreting Videofluoroscopy Swallowing Studies (VFSSs). Sessions taught included knowledge of anatomy and physiology of swallowing, examination and identification of structures and landmarks from radiographs, and the use of an assessment scale such as the Bethlehem Assessment Scale (BAS) to interpret VFSSs. The ability to interpret eight VFSSs using the BAS was used as the final assessment. ANOVA for repeated measures and post hoc tests using Tukey's HSD statistic revealed that there was a statistically significant correlation between students' knowledge of anatomy and physiology and their knowledge of radiographic anatomy. There was a statistically significant correlation between their knowledge of radiographic anatomy and their ability to interpret videofluoroscopic examinations, as assessed using the BAS. There was also a statistically significant correlation between their knowledge of anatomy and physiology and their ability to interpret videofluoroscopic examinations using the BAS.