Clinical Swallow Exam for Dysphagia: A Speech Pathology and Nursing Simulation Experience

Interprofessional collaboration in simulation offers students an opportunity to learn about and from other health care professionals while practicing their patient care skills. Six groups, each with 11 students (10 students in speech–language pathology and 1 undergraduate nursing student), participated in a simulation involving a clinical (bedside) swallow exam on a simulated patient, portrayed by a tracheostomized manikin experiencing respiratory distress following an aspiration event. The students studying speech–language pathology performed a clinical swallow exam, and the nursing student facilitated deep tracheal suctioning. The simulation experience allowed the instructors to determine which student skills required remediation and allowed the students to discover that understanding the roles of other health care professionals is foundational for effective teamwork.