September 3, 2025

 Stats

Filling out the stats at the bottom of the flow sheets is VERY important.  These stats help us see trends and give us objective data that is hard to collect otherwise.  Our work is generally very subjective and based on our expert analysis.  When presenting our work to some decision makers, who are more removed from our work, these numbers are VERY valuable to justify our position as they are indisputable.  

Especially when we have a lot of casual OAAs filling in for us, making sure the stats are completed is even more important.  Please ensure the data is completed before discharging your charts. 

SLP Referrals

We had a follow up meeting with the SLPs to see how referrals were going since they made us aware of  their triage process.   They stated that the number has significantly reduced and that they are happy with the referrals we are sending.  We know that the demand for their service far exceeds their capacity.  They have asked us to do the following:

1. Continue to send referrals that we think are appropriate.
2. Keep track of the number of clients who we would benefit from an SLP referral, but we know will never get seen because of capacity.  This includes those that we refer to private SLP. I have added this stat to the TL list to be collected at end of day- both home visits and BFC clients. 

As a refresher and for future reference I have posted the SLP triage criteria again below:

There is now ONE intake for publicly funded SLP referrals.  Upon receipt of the referral, it is triaged using the following criteria:

The following referrals will be prioritized as URGENT:

• ·          weight loss/falling off growth curve/failure to thrive
• ·         coughing/choking/congestion with or post feeds
• ·         no established feeding method (breast OR bottle)
• ·         significant feeding aversion or significant stress cues ( bottle/ breast refusal resulting in no feeding method, irregular breathing, significant arching, finger splay)

**Above concerns would be booked same week or within 1 week (as staffing allows).

If there are concerns with the infants motor skills, muscle tone, signs of plagiocephaly/torticollis a referral can be made to Outpatient Physical Therapy and JPCH. 

 

        Feeding Referrals can be sent to pediatricfeedingintake@saskhealthauthority.ca  

     PT referrals can be sent to jpchphysicaltherapy@saskhealthauthority.ca

Dr Brown's Specialty Feeding System (SFS)

We may be seeing more babies discharged from the hospital using the Dr. Brown’s Specialty Feeding System.  SLP stated that initially these specialty feeding systems were solely reserved for a small, higher risk population of infants (ie. babies born with cleft lip and palate or other rare craniofacial anomalies).  However, now they are finding that they are helpful for a broader group of infants. We may see them used for premature babies or babies with ankyloglossia, high-arched palate, or oro-neuromotor dysfunction.

Check out the video to learn more about how the Dr. Brown’s Specialty Feeding System works. https://vimeo.com/1063251960?fl=pl&fe=sh