The Speech Therapy Department at Hamad General Hospital provides an allied health service for infants through to geriatrics in the areas of communication and swallowing. As a department we engage in clinical services, prevention, screening, assessment, advocacy, therapy, treatment, intervention, education, consultation and research.
Our department aims to:
- Promote, optimize and maintain the patient's ability to communicate and/or to swallow in natural environments, and thus in turn directly improve their quality of life
- Enhance patient family satisfaction within speech therapy services.
We work closely with internal medicine, neurology, neurosurgery and otolaryngology, receiving consultations and discussing patient management plans. We also interact closely with respiratory therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy within multi-disciplinary teams to ensure patient requirements are fully met. The scope of our clinical services includes:
- Prevention, assessment and diagnosis of communication (speech, language, voice) and swallowing disorders
- Providing specialist advice, designing and establishing intervention programs and offering training in the optimal use/maintenance of services in acute/critical care settings
- Discharge and resolution planning
- Client/family education and support
- Screening and identification
- Management (accommodating diverse needs of specific populations)
- Advocacy on behalf of our patients
- Augmentative and alternative communication techniques and strategies
- Communication technology and software
- Assistive devices (speaking valve and voice prostheses) for tracheotomized and laryngectomized patients
- Address behaviors and make environmental modifications that affect communication, swallowing or other upper aero digestive functions (e.g. dietary modification, tracheotomy management).
