Improving Healthcare Through Academia

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Sri Lanka National, Dr Fathima Nuzha Ishak, graduated with a PhD in Speech Language Pathology at the CHS Spring Graduation.

Supervised by Professor Mershen Pillay and Dr Shyamani Hettiarachchi, Ishak conducted a study titled: An Exploratory Study of The Efficiency of Swallowing and Communication Management in Tracheostomized Populations in Sri Lanka.

‘It is truly a dream come true for me; a dream I thought was too farfetched especially being a full-time working mother in the UAE, far from academically oriented job opportunities,’ said the Manager of Speech and Language Therapy at the NMC Provita International Medical Center, UAE.

Ishak’s study looked at the efficiency of healthcare practices in Sri Lanka. The study explored the management of swallowing and communication in people with tracheostomies through literature reviews; document and chart reviews; observations and interviews with professionals; people with tracheostomies as well as their unpaid caregivers.

The study found that it is not the expected financial, capital and human resource constraints - common to the majority world - that most impact the efficiency of healthcare practices in Sri Lanka; rather, it is the inherent power dynamics among the healthcare professionals which compromises the efficiency of these processes.

‘I found that a primary mechanism hindering the achievement of good outcomes compared to those in minority world contexts stems from the rigid medical hierarchy nested within the system, arising from the prevalence of the medical model in Sri Lankan healthcare,’ explained Ishak.

She said her study adds valuable data to the scarce existing research on swallowing and communication management for tracheostomized individuals in majority world contexts. ‘Policy makers, medical managers and health professionals have little evidence to guide their decisions on how efficient current practices are, what areas require strengthening and how to provide quality healthcare to their patients. Thus, this study provides empirical evidence for these professionals to form a baseline of the practice quality,’ she said.

Ishak self-funded her research and with the help of Pillay, who identified a co-supervisor in Sri Lanka, whose supervision enabled her to get the ethical clearance required from UKZN.

A clinician at heart, Ishak is a passionate Speech Therapist with a vision to empower professionals such as herself to provide the highest quality of evidence-based services to the people they serve.

‘This doctorate is hopefully my stepping stone to my bigger dream of ensuring good clinical outcomes for children and adults with communication and swallowing disorders in the majority of the world countries,’ she said.

Words: Nombuso Dlamini 

Photograph: Rajesh Jantilal