Speak Out April 2017

Ethics news

The benefit of evidence FOR SPEECH PATHOLOGISTS KNOWLEDGE AND USE OF APPROPRIATE EVIDENCE IS THE ASSURANCE FOR OUR CLIENTS THAT WE DELIVER INTERVENTIONS THAT WILL PROVIDE BENEFIT. SENIOR ADVISOR TRISH JOHNSON EXPLORES THE BENEFITS OF EVIDENCE TO SPEECH PATHOLOGY PRACTICE.

frequency of intervention for a client, can also be challenging. Knowing the evidence to support those discussions is essential. Another scenario is when a client asks for a particular intervention they have heard of, but the speech pathologist is aware that there is no robust evidence behind that intervention. Knowing the evidence for the interventions we are proposing as well as the lack of evidence for the intervention the client is insisting on is indispensable for that discussion. A further obligation for speech pathologists is to ensure that interventions provided for our clients are within our skills, knowledge and expertise, as well as providing benefit. Unfortunately, from time to time, reports are received at National Office of speech pathologists providing interventions that have popular following in the community however do not have robust evidence behind them. Our professional ethics requires us to have the knowledge of what will assist clients to achieve their goals; to understand the evidence that supports interventions; to provide those interventions that will make a positive difference and to have the skills and expertise required to apply that knowledge in a therapeutic way. If a speech pathologist uses interventions that are not supported by appropriate evidence, the potential is that we may not be providing beneficence for our clients. Evidence can also assist us to assure non-maleficence, i.e. “we seek to prevent harm, and do not knowingly cause harm”.

SPEECH PATHOLOGISTS SEEK to provide benefit through interventions delivered to clients. This is described in the Code of Ethics as “beneficence, we seek to benefit others through our activities”. A key method for ensuring that we are providing benefit is to know and apply the evidence that supports a particular intervention. It is our ethical obligation to do so: to have current information, which we can explain to clients, regarding how our intervention is expected to provide benefit. Apart from being an ethical obligation, knowledge and application of evidence to speech pathology practise has many benefits for us as professionals. Speech pathologists are having discussions with consumers who are increasingly proactive and informed about treatment options. Discussions regarding the “latest” treatment in the media or literature can pose a challenge for a clinician. Speech pathologists may work with a client who has read the research literature supporting a treatment and wishes to discuss details at a professional level. For example, conversations when service delivery is restricted to a frequency that is not supported by the research, due to factors not directly in the speech pathologist’s control (such as resource allocation), yet the client is aware of the evidence for a particular frequency in order to have a beneficial effect. This conversation can be challenging. The conversations we have to discuss appropriate service provision with managers, such as to advocate for appropriate

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April 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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