Reflections on clinical expertise and silent know-how in voice therapy

Abstract

The concept of ‘clinical expertise’ is described as a part of evidence-based practice (EBP) together with ‘external scientific evidence’ and ‘patient values and perspectives’. However, clinical expertise in the management of voice disorders has not been described or discussed in much detail. The expertise seems to consist partly of silent know-how that, from the outside, may seem improperly related to the personality of the speech-language pathologist or exclusively dependent on the number of years in the field. In this paper, it is suggested that clinical expertise in voice therapy consists of specific skills that can be explicitly described and trained. These skills are discussed together with educational aspects that contribute to the development of clinical expertise. The skills are also discussed from the perspectives of the past, present, and future.

Key words::

• Clinical expertise
• clinical training
• education in speech-language pathology
• evidence based practice
• speech-language pathologist education
• voice therapy

Acknowledgements

This paper is a written version of the discussant note on the invited keynote speech ‘Voice Therapy—From the Past to the Present’ at the 10th Pan- European Voice Conference (PEVOC) in Prague, Czech Republic, 21–24 August 2013.

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.