Survey Is Valuable Career Tool
ASHA's Omnibus reports present valid, reliable data that you, as a speech-language pathologist can use to compare your work environments with others in the United States. This is helpful in identifying types of facilities where you might like to work and can help you plan your career. It's useful, too, for developing private practice business plans and for recruiting students into the professions.
The "2003 Omnibus Survey Caseload Report: SLP" can be found on ASHA's Web site. In addition to material included in this article, the report addresses reimbursement, volunteerism, usefulness of tools for culturally and linguistically diverse populations, knowledge of second-language acquisition, and use of the Web.
Looking Ahead: the 2004 Surveys
ASHA's Omnibus Survey has been the source of practice trend data for the Association for more than two decades, but that is changing. Beginning this year, the questions typically asked on the Omnibus will be combined with questions from other surveys, resulting in specialized surveys focused by profession and facility. A series of four such surveys will rotate, two each year in the spring and fall. Surveys to a sample of school-based speech-language pathologists are in the mail.
As an SLP, you are the most vital link in gathering data. The reports are compiled from data that members provide, so the most important thing you can do is to complete ASHA surveys if you receive one. Answers reported on surveys are confidential. For more information about ASHA research, visit www.asha.org or contact Sarah Slater at sslater@asha.org or through the Action Center at 800-498-2071, ext. 4149.
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