Course Description

The NMES for Dysphagia certification and credentialing program was developed for the individual who completes a standard of education and experience in the treatment aspects of NMES for Dysphagia. Individuals who pass the certification examination will be granted the credentialing letters NDC – NMES for Dysphagia Certified (see here for more details).

Most candidates who attend this prep course will benefit from a thorough review of the key aspects of the use of NMES in the treatment of dysphagia before sitting for the exam. This preparatory course will help get you ready!

Format

One-day live streaming workshop, 7 contact hours. Participants will view and listen to presentation utilizing their own computer. Opportunity to ask questions will occur at regular intervals during the course. Participants will ask questions in an online chat format. Answers will be provided publicly so everyone can benefit from them.

Course description

This one-day workshop will review the critical knowledge blocks covered in the NDC examination. The domains covered in the NDC exam:

• Clinical Evaluation – The NDC clinician should be able to formulate a ‘working diagnosis’, a statement identifying the impairment(s) underlying the swallowing disorder.
• Diagnosis – The NDC clinician should have a good working knowledge of the key diagnoses and impairments that are common in dysphagia patients.
• Treatment Plan – The NDC clinician should be able to establish a treatment plan based on the evaluation findings. This plan should include elements that are relevant to the use of NMES: treatment frequency, electrode placement, etc.
• NMES Competence – The NDC clinician should understand the working mechanism and theoretical rationale of using NMES for dysphagia and an appreciation for the various protocols that have been published in the peer-reviewed literature. This knowledge includes concepts such as waveforms, resistance to current, waveform parameters such as phase duration and frequency, physiological responses to electrical stimulation, and more. The NDC clinician should be cognizant of the evidence base informing the use of NMES in the treatment of dysphagia. This includes the ability to identify strengths and weaknesses of published studies and the ability to distill key findings from a first reading of a publication.
• Combining NMES with Exercise Therapy - The NDC clinician should deliver the therapy safely, chooses electrode placements according to the evaluation results, establishes therapeutic intensity effectively and adjusts the therapy variables, delivers the bolus or oral intake to challenge the patient’s swallowing mechanism and instructs the patient in appropriate exercises while the NMES device is active according to patient needs.
• Reassessment – The NDC clinician should be able to assess the patient response to the treatment and adjust treatment parameters accordingly. Such parameters include NMES protocol, frequency, phase duration, duty cycle, session frequency and duration, and more.
• Ethics – The NDC clinician should be aware of the various ethical considerations surrounding the use of NMES in the treatment of dysphagia in the context of his or her practice act and location of practice.

The preparatory course will cover these domains in order. The topics will be introduced with sample questions. After each set of questions, a segment of live teaching and Q&A will summarize the information and clarify the key points to remember.