November 2010 Newsletter
November 2010
Clinical Café Newsletter
By: Ronda Polansky M.S. CCC-SLP
Happy Thanksgiving!
There is no better time to express our appreciation for your business and friendship! The friendship of those we serve is the foundation of our success serving the DFW area!
This is the season and the holiday to reflect on your blessings and those things for which you feel most thankful. I know at DiagnosTEX, we are incredibly thankful for each and every one of you who use DiagnosTEX as your preferred mobile MBSS provider. You make our days so enjoyable! We appreciate your support and friendships. How can you thank someone for allowing you to do and be successful at what you love? I am not sure there are sufficient words to express our gratitude. I hope our appreciation shows in the effort we make to meet your MBSS needs and give you the best that we have to offer. We wish you and your families and very Happy Thanksgiving with many, many blessings this holiday season!
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!!!!!
DiagnosTEX November Holiday Schedule
Swallow and be thankful!
DiagnosTEX will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, November 25th, to count our blessings! Friday, November 28th operation will be dictated by the number of pending MBSS at that time. We want to meet all of your MBSS needs because we know PO feeding becomes important on many levels to many of your patients around the holidays. We also want to be fair and accommodating to each DiagnosTEX employee and their families. We are so thankful for them as well! Please keep our holiday schedules in mind when scheduling your MBSS at the end of November (and December)!
******Please take note and keep in mind that during this busy time of year, specific requests for specific times and/or days become exponentially difficult to accommodate. We may be unable to quickly schedule your patient with certain time and day requests. Please notify your staff, patients, and families of this. ****** DiagnosTEX bases our mobile clinic schedules by geographical areas for time, efficiency and cost. If your patient’s schedule is limited to certain days and times, we recommend an outpatient facility (such as a hospital). Mobile service offers convenience in the equipment coming to you, not for the flexibility of specific days and time schedules. Mobile offices also require flexibility in time; we are subject to many factors that can dramatically change our travel during the day and subsequently alter the exact time we may arrive. We make a heartfelt effort to arrive during our scheduled time, but there are often things that are out of our control that may change our arrival time. We will always call to keep you updated on our ETA.
The 2010 DiagnosTEX Dysphagia Calendar will be available next month!
New November Educational Handout – Dysphagia Diets Improving Appeal! – Ask for yours next time we see you! Eating becomes very important on many levels to many people around the upcoming holidays. We can help educate the families on how to make dysphagia diets more appealing and to improve the quality of life for those with dysphagia and on altered diets during this season of family and food!
Upcoming ASHA Conference in Philidelphia – November 18-20
Home Health – Home health patients have become increasingly difficult to schedule, as “home health” does not seem to mean “home bound” anymore. We will not reschedule after 3 failed attempts to schedule with patient if they continue to decline the available times that we offer, or if they repeatedly cancel. If we schedule a HH patient and we call prior to arriving and they do not answer the phone, we will not continue our route to the home. They must answer the phone to confirm that they are there. We will also not enter the home without someone answering the door to allow us entry. We cannot allow ourselves in the front door and go searching for the patient in their home (this has actually been a request). The patient must be up in a wheelchair (or ambulatory, of course) and have easy access outside the home. We will not carry patient down the stairs or risk tilting wheelchairs down several level of stairs. Before requesting or scheduling a study, please evaluate the home and make sure the patient is appropriate to be seen by our mobile clinic. The patient (or someone on behalf of the patient) must be able to answer the phone and door. It is also imperative the patient can be safely and appropriately transferred to the van. These are PRE-REQUISITES for a mobile MBSS.
Two Hours of Ethics and the Jurisprudence Exam
First, let me say, it was great to see everyone at our Ethics course last month, we had a great turnout! I get so many calls on these 2 topics; I hope this helps to explain. You are required at least 2 hours of ethics CEUs each licensure renewal period.
TSHA Ethics Online Available This Month Two hours of online continuing education (CE) credit to meet the Ethics Continuing Education Requirement. Accepted by ASHA and TSHA for CE credit
“Ethical Practice for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists in Texas”
To register or get additional information, go to: http://www.txshatrainingonline.com
TSHA Members cost: $40, Non-members cost: $75
Everyone must take the Jurisprudence exam, which became a requirement January 1, 2010. This exam will count as 1 CEU credit of ethics. It is taken online at the Texas State Board website at (www.dshs.state.tx.us/speech) and must be completed no more than 6 months prior to the date of licensure application/renewal. Cost ranges from $35-$40. It must be submitted to the State Board of Examiners (SBOE) at the time of renewal.
Newsletters and Conference Notification by Email
We have recently been sending out newsletters by email in addition (testing the waters) and have gotten some positive feedback. We are able to track when they are opened and if they are forwarded. We will continue to do this, as I master this avenue! Ha! DiagnosTEX will have a Facebook site up again very soon. So be sure to “Like” DiagnosTEX on your Facebook!