First Bite #88 – February 18, 2020

Clinical Indicators for NPO

(.1 ASHA and AOTA CEUs) For more info, click here.

Course Description

In this episode, Michelle and Erin tackle when it is appropriate to say “NPO”. That’s right, sometimes it falls on us as the Feeding and Dysphagia experts to share with the rest of the Interprofessional Team that we have concerns for safety of PO intake. But, we need to be able recognize how the “Little One’s” Cardiac, Gastrointestinal, and Respiratory systems contribute or dictate that NPO status. Again, we need to be able to when the pleasure and quality of a feed are fading and our patients need advocacy and support. Baselines change often for our complex patients and this is the episode that differentiates the signs and symptoms of when we can say “NPO” and when we can joyously celebrate moving towards “PO” again.

Objective

By the end of this PodCourse, participants will be able to identify and describe:

  • 3 different cardiac considerations for NPO status.
  • 3 different gastrointestinal considerations for NPO. status
  • 3 different respiratory consideration for NPO status.

Co-Presenter

Erin Forward, MSP CF-SLP

Erin currently resides in Greenville, SC but grew up in Rochester, NY where her family still resides. Erin attended the University of Pittsburgh for her Undergraduate degrees in Communication Science and Disorders and Psychology, and completed her Master’s degree in Speech Pathology at the University of South Carolina. She has worked in a variety of settings including early-intervention/home-health, NICU in a children’s hospital, and an outpatient feeding clinic. Erin currently works for a non-profit outpatient speech clinic, where she specializes in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders.

Erin is the Co-Host of the wildly acclaimed PodCourse/PodCast “First Bite: Fed, Fun, Functional a Speech Therapy”, sponsored by Speechtherapypd.com. Erin is passionate about engaging in interprofessional practice for her patients and advocating for attainment of functional independence for patients and their families, all done with a little bit of fun and joy. She believes that if you tell a child they can do something, they can do it, which is what makes working with children so rewarding, as they inspire her every day.