Partnering With Physicians: How Are Medical Speech-Language Pathologists Perceived

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to gather insight regarding physicians’ understanding and view of the medical speech-language pathologist. Some questions were compared to previous data presented in a prior survey by McCauslin, Florance and Rabidoux in 1980. The sample population included 500 randomly selected family medicine and internal medicine physicians within the state of Alabama. The physicians were mailed a packet which included an information letter, a cover letter, the survey and a pre-stamped envelope for easy return. Physicians were given thirty days to complete and return the survey. While several results were presented in a descriptive manner, non-parametric analysis was completed on the data sets using chi square analysis. The survey included 145 respondents from both medical specialties. An encouraging response rate illustrated that, overall, the results were positive in the physicians understanding and view of the medical speech-language pathologist.