IDDSI Around the Globe
Last month our e-bite mentioned a webinar hosted in South Africa. We are pleased to share feedback and ideas from this well attended session. Thank you to Prof. Mershen Pillay (IDDSI Board Member) and Kelly Anne Kater for sharing this with us.
The University of Witwatersrand’s Swallowing and Dysphagia Society recently hosted a webinar titled: Is the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) working in South Africa? The webinar was well attended by Dietitians, Speech Therapists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists from the public and private healthcare sectors both locally, in South Africa, as well as internationally. Presenters included:
- Mershen Pillay- Associate Professor University of KwaZulu-Natal; IDDSI Board Member (South Africa)
- Veronique Donoghue- Dietitian; Scientific Affairs Manager and Group Product Manager for Colloids and Propofol at Fresenius Kabi SA Pty (Ltd)(South Africa)
- Ferzana Loopoo- Speech therapist in the private sector (South Africa)
- Katherine Britz- Speech therapist in the public sector(South Africa)
- Annelize Zeelie- Dietitian; The Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA); FEDICS food services (South Africa)
This was the first webinar of its kind to be organised with a focus on a low-and-middle-income country (LMIC). As such, many issues were raised and discussed around the applicability of IDDSI where social and economic concerns are central to food modifications – such as health care, human resources (e.g., therapist: patient ratios), costs/availability of commercial food thickeners, food security and sovereignty. The presenters and the attendees acknowledged the many barriers and facilitators to implementing the IDDSI framework in LMIC. These included:
- The need to contextualise the IDDSI initiative accounting for locally available and indigenous foods.
- To work within a multidisciplinary team when training staff and implementing the IDDSI.
- To develop better guidelines on the use of texture modifications for the paediatric population.
- To consider budget and access constraints in LMICs and ways in which to overcome them when phasing in the direct implementation of IDDSI.
- The value of a phased-in approach as opposed to a large-scale venture to optimise, implementation, monitoring and sustained use of IDDSI.
The Swallowing and Dysphagia Society run a variety of webinars throughout the year. Please contact dysphagiagroup@gmail.com for more information.
The International Alliance of Academies of Childhood Disabilities.
The International Alliance of Academies of Childhood Disability (IAACD) https://iaacd.net/ is an assembly of academies of childhood disability globally. The mission of the IAACD is to improve the health and well-being of children, youth and adults with childhood-onset disabilities around the globe by enhancing local multidisciplinary professional capacity and expertise through an international collaboration between academies.
One of the means to help share clinical and educational resources is through the IAACD Knowledge Hub. The Knowledge Hub provides professionals and families free access to current and evidence-based information, knowledge and training, at the right time, anywhere in the world.
Implementation is still happening!
New York Medical collegeis about to start their Nursing Education component of IDDSI implementation. This hospital is part of network of 10 hospitals and was chosen as a pilot site for IDDSI implementation within the next 6-8 weeks. Once implemented, the team will we’ll be working with the other 9 facilities to implement. Thanks to Dr. Luis Riquelme for this update.
