Date: Tuesday, May 6^th and Wednesday, May 7^th, 2025

Intended Audience: NICU therapists OT, SLP, PT

Course level: Intermediate/advanced

Check in time: 4:15-4:30 pm (CST)

Course time: 4:30-8:30 pm (CST)

Location: Live webinar Microsoft TEAMS

Total Contact hours: 7.50 (.75 ASHA CEU)

Course fee: $225

SLP: This course will be submitted through ASHA for full course participation. Participant information will not be submitted to the ASHA CE registry for partial credit and hours will be adjusted on your course certificate if the course is not attended in full.

PT: Course will be submitted to the MN Board of PT for approved credits. (Submitting credits through the MN Board of PT does not guarantee full credits will be approved by the board

OT: You will receive a certificate of course completion with total CE contact hours. M HEALTH Fairview is not an approved provider through AOTA and has never been for distance learning. You may still submit the hours towards your licensure and receive a certificate of completion with all information provided to submit.  For additional information about CE requirements for license, please see MN Statute 148.6443: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/148.6443

MN statutes 143.6443, subdivision SUBD.2 “Standards for determining the qualified education activities” will continue to be utilized in determining appropriate OT related CE courses.

(Submitting credits through the organizations does not guarantee approved credits or the full credits. All participants will receive a certificate of completion which you may be able to use towards your professional license).

Group Discounts:
If two people from the same organization register for a course, each person will receive a 10% discount. three or more registered will receive a 15% discount. Please email names of who will be attending as a group. [email protected] or 612-672-5607.
For Group discounts: USE CODE rehab10 for 10% discount and rehab15 for 15% discount for group.

Cancellation Policy:  Cancellation Fee will apply.

Instructor

Holly Schifsky, OTR/L, CNT, NTMTC, CBIS is an Occupational Therapist who has worked in pediatrics for the past 27 years with the past 16 years in a level IV NICU.  She is a Certified Neonatal Therapist, Certified Neonatal Touch and Massage Therapist, Certified Brain Injury therapist, an active member of National Association of Neonatal Therapists, and has completed 6-month mentorship in in infant/child NDT.  She has worked within the NICU and NICU follow-up clinic to maximize patient and family outcomes for the most complex premature and medically fragile term infants.  Holly received her Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational therapy from the University of North Dakota in 1997.  She has dedicated her career to clinical care and advancing developmental care practice patterns for all multidisciplinary team members.  She has presented at many regional and national conferences including National Association of Neonatal Therapists, American Physical Therapy Combined Sections Meeting, Audrey Harris Vision NICU conference, and the University of Minnesota NICU conference.  She provides Developmental Care, Feeding Intervention, and NICU education throughout the country.  She is a faculty member for Neonatal Touch and Massage; Education Resources Inc; and Manual Edema Mobilization.  She is the recipient of the NANT Clinical Excellence award in 2018.

Financial Disclosures: Holly Schifsky receives a fee for speaking and instructing on this topic. 
Non-Financial Disclosures: Holly Schifsky has no relevant nonfinancial relationships to disclose.

Course Description

This intermediate/advanced course will provide rehabilitation professionals with information to advance their assessment, treatment, and outcomes for infants requiring a tracheostomy tube.  This course will focus on the medical co-morbidities associated with infants requiring a tracheostomy tube, implications of the tracheostomy tube on oral feeding/motor development, integrating physical rehabilitation treatments and respiratory therapy interventions to maximize infant outcomes with oral feeding, motor development, and daily activities related to play skills.  An up-to-date literature review will be provided to advance the clinicians integration of evidence-based practice into their care planning for this patient population.  Advanced information regarding reading/interpreting vent settings during interventions for objective assessments of infants that are intubated or have tracheostomy tubes. Expanded lecture/lab section devoted to infants with tracheostomy tubes include oral motor, feeding interventions, postural control, manual cough facilitation, positioning/handling, integrating use of a one-way valve into treatment, weaning respiratory support, and durable medical equipment recommendations for infant/family in preparation for home discharge.  This course will focus on infants up to 12 months corrected gestational age with information applicable to clinicians working in the NICU, PICU, transitional pediatric care, in-home therapy, early intervention, and outpatient clinics.

Objectives

1.     Differentiate medical pathology from normal development for infants requiring a tracheostomy tube.

2.     Determine how the placement of a tracheostomy tube influences the development of oral feeding and postural control skills.

3.     Identify three risk factors for feeding dysfunction associated with oral feeding an infant with a tracheostomy.

4.     Apply at least two feeding strategies for infants requiring a tracheostomy tube to improve sensory and motor performance with oral feeding.

5.     Apply at least two postural control strategies for infants with a tracheostomy tube to improve their ability to utilize vocal cord movement to enhance their cough, phonation, and gross motor movement.

6.     Identify an individualized care plan for an infant using the provided case study with tracheostomy tubes for improved outcomes with oral feeding, cough facilitation, motor control, and phonation.

Outline

Day I

4:15-4:30 pm     Registration

4:30-5:00 pm     Updates in Evidence:  Includes resources and references for individualized learning

5:00-6:30 pm     Tracheostomy Tubes

·       Information on types of infants that require tracheostomy tube placement.

o   Pulmonary: bronchopulmonary dysplasia

o   Cranial Facial: airway anomalies

o   Neuromuscular:  myotonic dystrophy, hypotonia

o   Neurological: brain injury or malformation

o   Genetic conditions: airway compromise, musculoskeletal conditions

·       Equipment

o   Tracheostomy tubes:  cuffed verse cuffless trach

o   Ventilators and vent settings

o   Weaning from vent, trach mask

6:30-6:45 pm     Break

6:45-7:45 pm     Lecture and LAB:  Oral Motor interventions and Pre-feeding assessment

·       Oral motor interventions

·       Secretion management

·       Monitoring vent settings

·       Consideration of trach cuff inflation/deflation

7:45-8:30 pm     Lecture and LAB:  Oral Feeding interventions.

·       Implications of vent settings on oral feeding skills

·       Critical reason for assessing the Oral, Pharyngeal and Esophageal phase of oral feeding.

·       Bottle selection: sensory and motor considerations.

·       monitoring for aerophagia, techniques for gastric decompression

Day 2

4:30-5:15 pm     Dysphagia Risk.

·       Integration of standardized swallow assessment: video fluoroscopy swallow study

·       Treatment options:  altered oral feeding: thickened feeding, advancing to solids.

5:15-5:45 pm     Advancing infant to use a One-way Valve.

5:45-6:00 pm     Break

6:00-8:00 pm     LAB and Lecture:  Postural Control Development for Infants with Tracheostomy Tube

·       Assessment of ribcage development and implications of artificial airway

·       Discussion of influence of pulmonary, GI, and musculoskeletal development for older infants

·       Manual cough facilitation: vibration and percussion

·       Rolling facilitation

·       Pelvic Floor activation with weight bearing

·       Spinal extension facilitation

·       Managing rib flares for infants with inverted diaphragm, complex BPD

·       Scapular mobilization for ribcage elongation

·       Facilitation of ribcage development

·       Diaphragm activation.

8:00-8:30 pm     Additional considerations.

·       Self-care: bathing, dressing

·       Community mobility: equipment considerations

·       Family training

·       Developmental play tasks for home program

·       Adjunct interventions

·       Goal writing to support tracheostomy tube decannulation (if applicable to infant) case study