CCC-SLP Shadowing CCC-SLP (Vol. 2): Voice Clinic
A little over two years ago, a very unique voice case landed on my caseload in the public schools. Typically in that setting, my voice cases involved small vocal fold nodules, but this one was different. I started taking CEU course after CEU course to better understand and help pinpoint the etiology of the problem when the Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor I referred the teen to did not identify a structural cause, even going so far as to drive from the suburbs of Chicago to Baltimore, MD for the hands on Voice and Stroboscopy conference offered at Johns Hopkins University.
As great as hands-on-experience was, I knew that I also wanted to see a practicing clinician in a voice setting applying techniques in real world contexts. Fortunately for me, I had attended a voice workshop at my state conference earlier that year and was blown away by the speaker. We exchanged contact information, though she was from out of state, and I reached out to ask her if she knew of anyone locally who might allow me to shadow at a voice clinic. Though the first couple of connections fell through, it eventually led me to the renowned Bastian Voice Institute, which opened their doors for me to shadow their resident voice pathologist (or vocologist, as SLPs specializing in this aspect of the scope have taken to being called). When I arrived, the practice manager gave me a tour of their beautiful clinic, explained the day's schedule to me, and fitted me with a logo-embroidered lab coat so that I would look and feel like a part of their team. During my observation, the SLP still introduced me to each patient at the beginning of their sessions and asked for their permission to have me there as an observer, with many assuming that I was a student, though I'm pretty sure that I was older than and had been practicing longer than the SLP I was there to shadow. We could take that to mean that I still looked young, but more likely it was because people are not used to seeing practicing therapists shadowing each other.
Over the course of the day, I got to see both therapeutic treatment sessions with the SLP and medical treatment sessions (such as a botox injection into the muscles of the larynx) by the laryngologists (Otolaryngologists who specialize in the larynx specifically). The fast paced nature of the bustling clinic wouldn't be captured in CEU videos. Neither would the way the staff interacted with each other throughout the day. The doctors called the SLP in to the endoscopy suite for her opinion on patients and they collaborated on patients' plans of care. It was beautiful and insightful to witness their dynamic in action.
When there was ever a moment of downtime, the Ear, Nose, and Throat doctors (ENTs, another name for Otolaryngologists) also provided videos that I could watch to learn more on specific diagnoses and treatment techniques (including swelling checks, vocal fold injury, and laryngospasm) - introducing me to an invaluable resource that I still refer back to today. (See Bastian Medical Media for Laryngology - laryngopedia.com)
All of the staff was friendly and their practice manager even provided me with a certificate at the end reflecting that I had shadowed there for a full day, making sure to also invite me back for a Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) workshop they were hosting the following month. At that workshop, the team announced that their voice pathologist SLP was moving and they would be hiring soon. This would have been a great opportunity for someone with even more experience with voice disorders and highlights the importance of making in-person connections.
The combination of CEUs, shadowing, and mentoring gave me so many resources that I was able to take back to help the children with voice disorders in my care through the school district. I would highly recommend shadowing even to SLPs who don't want to completely change their scope of practice, but maybe just want to strengthen it in certain areas! Finding these opportunities isn't always easy and it was disappointing when my first few leads fell through, but experiencing that and seeing the same clinic hosting a visiting physician for a lengthier observation period during the MTD workshop is part of what inspired me to start Expand Your SCOPE so that I could help other CCC-SLPs find mentoring and shadowing opportunities more readily. If it's the norm for other medical professionals to visit and observe each other in practice, I want to be a part of creating that culture within the therapeutic professions - starting with my own beloved field of speech-language pathology.
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