Muhammad Abbas, Kashif Kashmiri, Inayat Ur Rehman, Zahid Ali, Aziz Ur Rahman, Asad Khalil, Long Chiau Ming, Muhammad Shafique, Tahir Mehmood Khan
Evaluation of healthcare professionals' understanding of fluoroquinolones' safety profile, usage, and boxed warnings in Pakistan
Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice
acquired swallowing impairment major public health issue often leads increased morbidity slower recovery speech language therapists slts taken lead assessment treatment dysphagia reflected guidelines early intervention recommended addition central role slts play management acquired communication impairments since research indicates patients communication difficulties benefit early intensive therapy slts increasing demand slts expected cause conflicting pressures workload therefore beneficial consider workforce planning aim study examine realworld data uk investigate issue regarding changes referral patterns patients dysphagia andor communication disorders slts time assist workforce planning interrogated royal college speech language therapists online outcome tool national database retrospective cohort study included patients evaluated 2018 2022 performed subgroup analysis patients aged 40 years primary medical diagnosis stroke data age primary diagnosis time caseload primary therapeutic outcome measure tom scale initial toms score impairment examined database 44444 referrals speech language therapy 5254 referrals included stroke overall subgroup analyses referrals 551 male median age 71 years half 561 referrals dysphagia referrals decreased covid19 pandemic began recover 2021 onwards time slt caseload increased years median 14 days interquartile range iqr 056 2018 20 days iqr 381 2022 referrals slt services assessment management dysphagia communication overall population stroke subgroup referrals communication disorders outnumbered referrals dysphagia 2020 onwards additionally severity impairment referral increased years realworld data indicates referrals slt services changing time include complex severely impaired patients demand swallowing communication disorders findings inform staff allocation remodeling educationtraining slts better meet clinical public health needs retrospective nature study limits strength generalisability data topic warrants investigation