FEES Mentorship with Selena Reece, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-S

Sign up for an hour of mentorship with Selena Reece, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-S. We can discuss all things FEES! We can review a study you recently completed and discuss the interpretation and results, talk about starting a FEES program, troubleshoot any road blocks you are experiencing in growing your FEES program…just about anything FEES related can be discussed during this time. 

Selena began her career after graduating with a Master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003. She has worked in acute care, outpatient, and inpatient rehabilitation settings. She currently serves as the Director of Educational Resources for Carolina Speech Pathology, while carrying an active caseload providing mobile FEES services. Selena has been teaching FEES training and interpretation, as well as supervising and mentoring SLP’s on FEES implementation since 2011. She has been a Board Certified Specialist in Swallowing since 2015 and a 7 time ACE continuing education award recipient. Selena was featured twice on Swallow Your Pride Podcast, has been involved with publications relating to FEES, and has presented on FEES at state and national conferences. Selena has served on committees within ASHA and the American Board of Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders. She currently serves on Speech Therapy Cambodia’s FEES Advisory Board and sits on two committees within ASHA Continuing Education (CE Advisory Group and Intersections Advisory Group).

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Frequently Asked Questions

Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES®) is a well established technique that has revolutionized the field of dysphagia diagnostics. FEES® is a sensitive, accurate, portable, and safe examination that yields clinically useful information relative to swallowing physiology and swallowing safety. The procedure involves passing a flexible endoscope across the floor of a patient’s nasal passage into the pharynx so that the larynx, pharynx and upper esophageal opening are viewed directly from above. Then the patient is administered food or liquids mixed with food coloring in order to determine safe swallowing function and integrity. FEES® can be done at the patient’s bedside, in an office, intensive care unit or in a long-term care facility in under 20 minutes with regular food and liquids. Since there is absolutely no radiation administered, the studies are able to be sustained for longer time intervals, allowing the clinicians the ability to tell if a patient’s swallowing technique is impacted by fatigue.

Susan Langmore, Ph.D., and colleagues coined the term FEES® in 1986 and published the first data demonstrating the effectiveness of the procedure in 1988. It is also known by a few other names such as “video endoscopic evaluation of dysphagia” and “bedside endoscopic swallowing test”. Typically this procedure falls within the scope of practice of speech-language pathology.

The Modified Barium Swallow Study (MBSS), also known as video-fluoroscopic swallow study, is a common, older procedure for the assessment of dysphagia. It is performed in the video-fluoroscopy suite in a hospital involving a radiologist, a radiology technologist and a speech-language pathologist. The patient must be seated in an upright position and fed barium coated food while being x-rayed. The MBSS study is time limited in order to reduce radiation exposure for the patient. The time limitation doesn’t allow for impact of fatigue on a patient’s ability to swallow effectively. Food and liquid consistencies are simulated through the use of liquid barium and barium pastes.

FEES® has repeatedly demonstrated a sensitivity equal to or greater than MBSS in determining whether a patient is exhibiting penetration, aspiration, delay in swallowing initiation and pharyngeal residue. Additionally, FEES® provides visualizations of pharyngeal secretions that cannot be detected during MBSS.

  • No need to coordinate time with radiology department schedule
  • No radiation exposure with FEES®
  • No unpleasant barium-tainted food and no barium-associated constipation for patients
  • No waiting to be cleared from isolation precautions
  • FEES® can be used with patients on mechanical ventilation
  • Normal food is given to patients
  • FEES® can be performed while a patient is sitting upright or in bed
  • FEES® can be performed easily on morbidly obese patients
  • FEES® can be given to medically complex patients who otherwise would not tolerate a trip to radiology
  • Physician does not have to be present during a FEES® study
  • FEES® is displayed and recorded in High Definition digital color
  • The use of the term “gold standard” as applied to MBSS is no longer appropriate
  • Real time visualization and recording allows for documenting functional and structural details
  • There may be cost advantages associated with FEES® for management of dysphagia