Methods of Inquiry - Blog #2

Methods of Inquiry – Blog #2

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who has posted about my blog thus far and for your feedback and encouragement!  I truly appreciate it! 

I have been spending a lot of time recently getting all the articles I can find related to cervical auscultation and the diagnoses of dysphagia.  I am finding an interesting trend – there has yet to be an article that identifies a specific training protocol for learning cervical auscultation.  Perhaps this is because it has yet to be proven as a useful diagnostic tool?

Recently, I had to opportunity to discuss my research topic idea with one of my former graduate school professors.  He was great at playing “devil’s advocate” and pointing out how I need to focus and narrow my topic.  I did not realize how broad my initial idea was until we started discussing all the variables associated with my topic.  I think I will need to pick a one or two variables associated with cervical auscultation and find a way to either quantify or qualify those variables.  Most of all, I want my research to be relevant and useful.

In our Methods of Inquiry class we are asked for our next assignment to construct a literature map and review.  I am having some difficulty identifying my theoretical perspective but hopefully I will have an “ah-ha!” moment soon after I review more of the literature.  To be continued…!

Methods of Inquiry - Blog #1

Hello All,
I am a Speech-Language Pathologist from Delaware and I am currently pursuing my SLP.D.  As part of the course, we are required to create a blog on our dissertation topic.  I hope this topic attracts some attention and feedback!  My topic is not narrowed down as much as I would like (or need) it to be however, hopefully it is a good start.  Enjoy!

Dissertation Topic: Cervical Auscultation

My area of interest and research includes the use of cervical auscultation in the diagnosis of swallowing disorders. First introduced decades ago, cervical auscultation remains a controversial diagnostic method in the field of Speech-Language Pathology.  The questions of its usefulness, accuracy, and training requirements to implement, remain largely unanswered.  Cervical auscultation is a method employed by some Speech-Language Pathologists in order to subjectively diagnose the presence of dysphagia.  This is completed by using a stethoscope to auscultate the lateral portion of the anterior neck over the thyroid cartilage and listen to the acoustics of swallowing physiology (Takahashi, Groher, & Michi, 1994).  Unfortunately, cervical auscultation has little evidence-based support on accuracy in diagnosing the presence of dysphagia.  Further, the training requirements to implement this technique also remain ambiguous.  Further research is needed to examine these research deficits.

References:

Takahashi, K., Groher, M.E., & Michi, K. (1994).  Methodology for detecting

swallowing sounds.  Dysphagia 9(1), 54-62