By Jackson Bain
Graduate students in Louisiana Tech’s speech pathology program got an inside view of Dysphagia, which is difficulty swallowing.
Representatives from Ambu brought an Ambu aScope for the students to use in a hands-on workshop. The advanced device is used by medical professionals to see inside someone’s throat, food pipe and stomach to allow for diagnosis of problems such as aspiration, where food or drink is not being swallowed properly but instead falls into a person’s airways.
Students were able to witness an in depth demonstration by their professor, Dr. Kerri Phillips, and then were able to try it themselves on special manikins that simulate human anatomy.
“Honestly, it was exciting because it’s just more of a glimpse into the future outside of school,” graduate student Jenny Moss said. “Seeing what your job is gonna look like in the future is exciting.”
The workshop, referred to as FEES (Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing) was a first for the program.
Along with the workshop and hands-on demonstration, Ambu donated some equipment to the program for future demonstrations.
“That was cool and I don’t know if we’ve ever done that before, definitely kind of a first time thing for the program,” Moss said. “A lot of the (students) love hospital settings and were very excited about learning this and considering themselves doing this in the future.”
