SP 2030 Report

7. QUALITY SERVICES, INNOVATION AND CONTINUAL PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE

E very client and every community deserves the highest quality speech pathology service, delivered within a strong ethical framework. With this as our goal, we will each work to rigorous, enforceable quality and ethical standards designed to protect our clients and maintain confidence in the profession. Systems will be in place to ensure these standards are applied to each of us at every stage of our career, regardless of the context or sector within which we work. These systems will cover appropriate credentialing, supervision, continuing training and working within our individual scope of practice and experience. As future speech pathologists graduate to the workforce they will be recognised for their strong skills in person and family- centred practice; their capacity to work effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and a range of life experiences, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; their competence in using a range of technologies, including telepractice, virtual learning, web-based therapy tools, and social robotics; and, their knowledge of community capacity building and universal service responses. Throughout their careers speech pathologists will have a wide range of relevant continuing professional development and postgraduate course work and research opportunities to choose from. We recognise the compelling reasons for service funding to be targeted towards practices with the best evidence-base. As the profession moves into the future, every speech pathologist will play an active part in undertaking research to develop the evidence-base and ensure its rapid translation into practice. To make this possible we will facilitate research mentoring and partnerships between universities and services in every field of practice. As we continue to refine the evidence-base in areas where a strong foundation has already been laid, we will also pay particular attention to advancing our understanding where evidence is yet to be well established. We will fill the gaps in understanding of the best approaches for working with client subgroups whose specific circumstances mean standardised practice may not be appropriate. Building this knowledge will ensure we are well-placed to make a strong case for appropriate resource allocation to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in our community. To ensure we keep developing the best quality services, offering optimal choice for clients and efficiency for the service system, our whole profession will stay informed of practice innovations and advances in fields relevant to our work. We will continue to enhance our knowledge and skills in areas which advance or

In our clients’ words:

“I hope we get universal…really keep pace with what other countries and experts are doing.”

“The problem isn’t availability of technology, but applying available

expertise to resolving the inability of an electrolarynx to obtain sufficient volume to be heard against background noise. Smartphone apps can drive an external Bluetooth speaker to provide a personal amplifier. The software could be extended to subtract background noise and filter out the electrolarynx excitation frequency from the laryngectomee’s vocalisation. And, the electrolarynx could be replaced by a phone speaker driving a low volume sound to an oral tube modulated by the user and amplified by the phone.” “I have a progressive neurological condition, there’s so much more to be learnt about how the brain changes in the next 50 years. We’re waiting for the magic pill. The cure that stops the degeneration.” “I think speech pathology has a role in the move to technology-based learning. To find a way to balance this with the skills that good personal communication requires.” “Some therapists didn’t seem to have a good theoretical basis to what they were doing. This was clear when we found a speech pathologist with enormous knowledge of the brain areas and functions and could do really targeted work.”

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Speech Pathology 2030 - making futures happen

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