Purpose: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for persons with aphasia (PWA) are commonly used to measure various outcomes. Persons with aphasia commonly present with language deficits that can likely increase respondent burden. Elements that contribute to respondent burden include readability, design, and formatting methods. The aims of this…

People with disabilities are more likely to be hospitalized and use health care services than people without disabilities. They also report negative experiences interacting with health care providers during these encounters, placing them at risk for preventable adverse medical events, poor quality of life, and dependence on others. Fortunately,…

Health care providers can experience increased diffculty communicating with adult patients during medical interactions when the patients have communication disorders. Meeting the communication needs of these patients can also create unique challenges for providers. The authors explore Communication Accommodation Theory (H. Giles, 1979) as a guide…

Patients with cognitive concerns following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), often referred to as concussion, present with complex constellations of strengths and limitations. Increasing evidence indicates that psychosocial factors, as opposed to the injury itself, predict persistent symptoms. As an alternative to the traditional medical model,…

Palliative care is specialized medical care offered to persons with serious health conditions, with the goal to relieve or prevent pain and suffering, to manage burdensome symptoms, and to optimize as much as possible the quality of life of patients and their families (Institute of Medicine, 2015). Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are not…

The client's ability to communicate is key to providing quality palliative end-of-life care. A speech-language pathologist (SLP) can facilitate the patient's ability to communicate concerns or preferences in order to (1) improve the health care team's ability to manage symptoms and engage in end-of-life discussions, and (2) support the patient and…

Medical errors and poor patient care have been impacted by communication failures despite mandates for effective patient-provider communication (The Joint Commission, 2010). There are a high number of communication vulnerable individuals in medical situations due to new medical conditions, preexisting conditions, and language differences, to name…

Clinical borderlands manifest themselves through encounters between people deemed to be in need of health care and health care providers (Mattingly, 2010). This article addresses the problem of inherent asymmetry in the clinical discourse between clinical providers, such as speech-language pathologists (SLPs), and persons with aphasia.…

This article focuses on a narrative account of a therapeutic journey experienced by 2 of the authors: an individual (P.D.) with a diagnosis in adulthood of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a speech-language pathologist/researcher (I.W.). Instead of adopting a traditional expert clinician treating an impaired patient stance in a highly formalized…

Patient-centered care is extending the sphere of health care beyond the patient, focusing attention upon the family caregiver(s). In this context, patient-family relationships are at the center of consistent, well-developed interprofessional interventions that encompass caregiver education, training, and wellness. Cohort models of intervention…

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) provide services to patients confronting the end of life (EOL) in a variety of settings. Instead of targeting improvement of health or sustaining life, EOL services focus primarily on quality of life. Although SLPs may not consider themselves core members of the health care team providing EOL services, the…

Clinical speech-language pathologists (SLPs) may receive referrals to consult with teams serving patients who have a severe and/or terminal disease. Palliative care focuses on the prevention or relief of suffering to maximize quality of life for these patients and their families. This article describes how the role of the SLP in palliative care…

As a patient approaches the end of life, he or she faces a number of very difficult medical decisions. Allied health care professionals, including speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and occupational therapists (OTs), can be instrumental in assisting their patients to make advance care plans, although their traditional job descriptions do not…