The speech-language pathology clinical experience: An experiential interprofessional session for second-year medical students

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in a variety of patients and practice settings. Given the complexity and wide range of conditions that SLPs treat, it is critical that physicians understand SLPs' role and scope of practice. This curricular initiative, the speech-language pathology clinical experience (SLPCE), aimed to improve second-year medical students' (MS2s’) self-reported ability to identify when to consult and attitudes towards collaboration with SLPs.

MS2s participated in a 2-h interprofessional clinical observation experience in inpatient and/or ambulatory settings. During the SLPCE students shadowed SLPs during their patient encounters and were encouraged to review the role of an SLP on the interprofessional care team, reasons for referral, and patient management SLPs provide. Program effectiveness was assessed via post-experience 5-point Likert scale surveys and free response questions administered to two academic years of MS2s and one year of SLPs. The SLPCE resulted in a significant increase in students' self-reported ability to identify when it would be beneficial to consult an SLP and over 90% of students reported the experience made them more likely to consult in the future. Ninety-nine percent of students felt the experience should be continued for future MS2s. All responding SLP preceptors agreed that MS2s demonstrated general knowledge about the SLP scope of practice by the end of the session. Few studies have addressed medical student education regarding the roles and responsibilities of SLPs. Overall, this study demonstrates that a brief curricular experience, requiring limited resources outside of a manageable time commitment, is effective in improving MS2s’ ability to identify when to consult and intentions to collaborate with SLPs in the future.