Speech Therapist

Description:

Reporting to the Manager, Rehabilitation/ Social and Behavioral Services / Senior Therapist or SLP, the Speech Therapist is responsible for assessing and treating patients with swallowing, speech and language disorders by utilizing best practices in patient healthcare in adherence with DOH/DHA and M42 policies, procedures, guidelines and standards.

Organizational Culture & Compliance
•Adheres to the division's policies, procedures and standards while ensuring compliance with applicable regulatory bodies.
•Contributes towards an innovative culture of continuous improvement for enhancing operational efficiency and effectiveness.
•Participates in meetings and maintains professionalism and confidentiality as per the organization's standard code of conduct.
•Completes personal performance evaluation cycle in a timely manner.

 Speech and Language Pathology

 •Provides screening, consultation, comprehensive assessment, diagnosis, intervention and treatment of speech, language, communication, and swallowing disorders to patients.
•Utilizes Evidence Based Practice and International Clinical Guidelines to provide therapeutic intervention allowing for the development of skills, implementation of strategies and refinement of techniques.
•Performs controlled therapy sessions with individuals, groups and/or family members in a variety of clinical setting settings including inpatient, outpatient, community and education environments.
•Assesses patient histories and identifies the underlying causes for the speech and language impairment that are affecting patients, such as congenital or developmental disorders and/or acquired brain injuries.
•Works with patients across multiple age groups to facilitate the treatment of speech and language disorders including but not limited to stammers, stutters, dysphonia, swallowing disorders and speech delay due to hearing loss.
•Provides advice, education and support to patients and their family members on appropriate treatment plans.
•Devises effective therapy plans in association with other healthcare professionals and patients’ family members.
•Develops and implements highly specialized speech and language therapy treatment programs to facilitate the recovery of speech, language and swallowing function.
•Tracks patients’ progress and maintains comprehensive treatment records.
•Create and maintain clinical documents, ensuring they are accurate, completed in a timely manner and reflect specific information and services provided to the patient.
•Participates in conferences and trainings to share knowledge of new hearing/speech disorder treatment methods and technologies.
 
Quality Assurance and Service Improvement
 
•Assists in designing and implementing clinical programs, initiatives and services to ensure patient safety and quality healthcare delivery.
People / Self-Management
•Provides supervision, guidance, on the job training and shares continuous constructive feedback for direct reports if required.
•Pro-actively identifies and meets self-development requirements for professional growth by developing and sustaining own knowledge, clinical skills and professional awareness.
•Maintains the required Continuous Medical Education (CME) hours in compliance with DOH/DHA regulations.

Person Centered Care

•Embraces organizational and physical structures that promote engagement and break down the barriers between healthcare professionals and where applicable, patients/residents and families.
•Connect values, strategies, and actions to create cohesion between behaviors/ tasks and values/mission.
•Adopt methods, processes and behaviors to guide healthcare interactions that cultivate trust, build reciprocal relationships, and improve communication between internal and external stakeholders.
•Deliver care that is personalized according to individual needs, preferences, and values, and based on partnered determination of goals. Caring attitudes and compassionate communication and interactions encourage individual and group engagement and satisfaction.
•Use evidence to drive improvement and create measurable change.

Communication

•Communicates effectively with team members and maintains good inter-functional liaison to ensure smooth implementation of operational activities.
•Communicates applicable regulatory requirements in a timely and clear manner within the division.

Education:
 
•Bachelor’s Degree in Speech and Language Pathology Therapy or related fields
OR
•Bachelor’s Degree in Communication, Psychology or Linguistics and a Master’s program in Speech Language Pathology from an accredited educational institution, college or university
 
Experience
 
•For Bachelor’s Degree in Speech and Language Pathology: Minimum of 2 years’ experience post qualification in related field in a hospital or clinical settings
]•Meets criteria of the RCSLT as a Specialist Dysphagia Practitioner. The therapist must be a competent dysphagia practitioner and can manage a caseload independently. In addition, the individual should be able to assess, diagnose, treat and prescribe modified diets consistently and independently manage a dysphagia caseload.