On this episode of Swallow Your Pride Podcast, Theresa sits down with Dr. Sonal Pathak to talk about something that’s been simmering in the field for a long time: the perception gap between acute care and post-acute SLPs. Dr. Pathak brings 16+ years of clinical experience across both settings and makes the case that SNF clinicians aren’t “step-down” anything. They’re managing medically complex patients with fewer resources, less backup, and often zero SLP colleagues in the building. The two dig into discharge planning gaps, the fight for a seat at the interdisciplinary table, how to advocate for your caseload when your DOR is a PT, and why continuity of care across settings should be the standard, not the exception. Dr. Pathak also shares her doctoral research on spontaneous swallowing frequency and how it could change bedside outcome measurement for SLPs everywhere.
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Dr. Pathak is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist with over 16 years of diverse clinical experience across acute care and post-acute settings. Her clinical work focuses on the assessment and management of dysphagia, particularly in patients with stroke and other neurologic conditions. She is deeply committed to bridging the gap between clinical research and real-world implementation at the bedside. Dr. Pathak earned her clinical doctorate, with research focused on spontaneous swallowing frequency ; an area with strong potential for practical application in patient care and early dysphagia identification. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Pathak serves as a clinical researcher with the SAUL Lab, where she is actively involved in ongoing research initiatives aimed at advancing evidence-based practice in speech-language pathology. Currently, she practices in both acute care (trauma 1 and UCSF) and post-acute environments (SNF) integrating evidence-based approaches into daily clinical decision-making. Her areas of interest include dysphagia management, stroke rehabilitation, and translating research into meaningful clinical outcomes.
