SSTC Dysphagia Training at Cambodia’s University of Health Sciences

In May, SSTC had the honor of collaborating with the Technical School for Medical Care (TSMC) at the University of Health Sciences (UHS). We facilitated the delivery of Adult Dysphagia teaching for TSMC’s Physiotherapy Bachelor Bridging Program. Though this program, Cambodian physiotherapists convert their associate degree into a bachelor’s degree.

UHS is Phnom Penh’s highly-regarded, government-sponsored medical school, providing quality certified university courses and degrees in medicine, physiotherapy, nursing, and other clinical disciplines.

This educational unit will be repeated in years to come and can be delivered by the Cambodian dysphagia clinicians trained by SSTC. This collaboration represents a truly sustainable, Cambodian-led initiative, embedded into existing Cambodian clinical education structures. Through this, SSTC is raising awareness of dysphagia, and giving physiotherapists locally relevant skills and tools.

Our team prepared the course content under the guidance of course leaders Mr. Kem Savy and Mr. Poeng Sareth. It includes lecture slides, video clips and real-life case studies based on dysphagia patient stories from our work in Phnom Penh hospitals. Our expert translator ensured all materials were provided in both English and Khmer. The finalized material was delivered by Dr. Chhour Channara (a medical doctor at Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital and SSTC’s executive director).

Using his dynamic and engaging teaching techniques, Dr. Channara covered:

• Causes, presentations and consequences of dysphagia
• Anatomy and physiology
• Neurology and ageing
• Universal interventions/risk-reduction strategies
• Administration of the EAT-10 (©Nestlé Global, S.A.). This is an international, validated dysphagia identification tool, which was translated for the first time into Khmer by SSTC, with this translation officially endorsed by Nestlé in 2018.

We thank UHS and its leadership for working with us on this!