LEGAL BASES, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF EDUCATIONAL TRAINING OF SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPISTS IN THE FIELD OF HEALTH CARE AS MEMBERS OF A MULTIDISCIPLINARY REHABILITATION TEAM WITH NON-MEDICAL EDUCATION

Abstract

Topicality. As a result of hostilities and high morbidity of the civilian population in medical and rehabilitation institutions, there was a high demand for specialists – members of the multidisciplinary rehabilitation team with nonmedical education – speech and language therapists. However, educational programs for this specialty have not been developed and are not functioning in Ukraine. The goal of the work is to study and systematize the normative professional competencies of speech and language therapists as the basis for creating an educational program for the specialty 227.3 “Speech and Language Therapy”. Materials and methods. Analysis of the legislative framework for the work of speech and language therapists as members of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team from the perspective of our own experience in training specialists in the field of knowledge 227 “Therapy and Rehabilitation”. Research results. The main professional differences between specialists in the field of health care (speech and speech therapists) and people with a humanitarian education are the ability to implement and evaluate the results of diagnostic functional and instrumental methods of medical direction, to perform specific interventions to correct the health status of sick people of different ages only with congenital, but also with acquired pathological conditions, introduction of specific documentation. All these actions are carried out within the limits of compliance of such activities with legal aspects regarding responsibility for the patient’s health. In the educational program for the training of speech and language therapists, it is necessary to include disciplines that form ideas about the functioning of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team; characterize the mechanisms and methods of prevention, screening, diagnosis, assessment, therapeutic intervention, counseling, administration, research and management of genetic, congenital, developmental, acquired and neurodegenerative disorders of communication and swallowing. When creating an educational program, it is advisable to take into account the peculiarities of the main contingents of patients for the work of speech and language therapists – patients with the consequences of acute disorders of cerebral blood circulation, craniocerebral injuries, resuscitation conditions (in particular, with a tracheostomy and those requiring nutritional support), diseases of the ENT organs, elderly people, children with disabilities of mental and physical development. Conclusions. Тhe creation of educational programs for the specialty 227.3 “Speech and language therapy” should be based on the legal and qualification requirements for this profession, the principles of training specialists in the field of health care, and the principles of functioning of multidisciplinary rehabilitation teams.