Curious Diagnostics

One thing I love about working in the acute hospital setting is being part of the medical team and aiding in the process of differential diagnosis. In some ways, working with people with swallowing disorders is its own process of differential diagnosis. SLPs are presented with a patient complaining of difficulty swallowing, and it’s our job to narrow down what type of difficulty that is, and how we might help remediate it. This applies to more than swallowing, of course. Acquired or developmental speech and language disorders, fluency disorders, and cognitive communicative disorders are all things we assess and can potentially treat.

During any given day or week, I encounter a variety of diagnoses. I’ve recently taken to writing them down, as I have been curious about what I encounter and doing research as I am able. I will present them here, in no particular order or sequence, but rather as I encounter them and/or see fit.

The more I work in this setting, the more curious I have become about the human body and how it works. I’m looking forward to learning more and seeing where this journey takes me.