Michaela Trapl-Grundschober, speech therapist

Dr Michaela Trapl-Grundschober, MAS, MSc is a speech therapist at the Stroke Unit of the Division of Neurology at University Hospital Tulln. She specialises in swallowing disorders following a stroke, and developed the Gugging Swallowing Screen (GUSS), which is now used all over the world. In addition to her work at University Hospital Tulln and her research activities, she teaches various advanced training courses and gives lectures.

Dr Trapl-Grundschober studied speech therapy at the Academy for Speech Therapy, Phoniatric and Audiological Services at University Hospital Vienna. She has always been particularly interested in the medical aspects of her training. Her interest in dysphagia was sparked by a lecture on this subject. “At the time, there was little literature on dysphagia and the lecture was relatively basic,” says Dr Trapl-Grundschober, recalling how she first encountered her area of expertise. “I gathered all of the material I could find on the subject and attended a great many training courses.” Immediately after her training as a speech therapist, she began working at the Neurology Department of the Danube Region Provincial Clinic in Maria Gugging, Austria. She liaised with dieticians in the department and developed some initial structured approaches to dealing with dysphagia. At what is now the University for Continuing Education, she did a postgraduate course in neurorehabilitation and graduated with Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) and Master of Science (MSc) degrees. Thanks to her scientific training, she realised that the standard approach to dysphagia following a stroke differed significantly from the recommendations in the literature. Her supervisor, chief physician Professor Michael Brainin, PhD, supports Dr Trapl-Grundschober in her endeavours and encourages her focus on this area.  “I was driven by the prospect of being able to make lasting changes that will benefit my colleagues in their day-to-day work as well as our patients,” says the speech therapist with pride, as she thinks back to the beginnings of her research work. “Professor Brainin wasn’t just the chief physician in the department, he was also a professor at Danube University Krems, so he and his institute provided scientific staff and expertise.” Dr Trapl-Grundschober’s ability to work precisely and systematically has proven very important in her project. She and her team had a paper on “The Gugging Swallowing Screen (GUSS)” published in the specialist journal Stroke in 2007. The screening method is now published in several languages ​​and for different target groups, and has been revalidated in follow-up studies. Today, Dr Trapl-Grundschober still regularly receives enquiries about the method, and is playing an ongoing role in the diagnosis of swallowing disorders after a stroke. She received the Lower Austria Science Award in 2008 in recognition of this contribution.

In 2007, the Division of Neurology moved to University Hospital Tulln, where Dr Trapl-Grundschober continued her research. She continued her training in fibre endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and became a certified instructor in this area. In 2018, she completed her doctorate in public health at St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social Work, in Bratislava, Slovakia, receiving the academic title of PhDr. She is currently completing a PhD in nursing and allied health sciences at Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg. “I expect to complete my PhD in 2025 and am currently working on my third publication, which is required for the degree,” says Dr Trapl-Grundschober.  “I’m particularly excited about this one because I think it will be ground-breaking for our profession. Having a research time-out has been really helpful – I don’t know how else I could combine my clinical work and my PhD studies.” Research time-out (RTO) is an instrument that frees up scientific staff for research activities, with funding from the Forschungsimpulse measurement. Dr Trapl-Grundschober was granted an RTO for almost two years for the project “MedISID: Medication Intake of Solid Dosage Forms: A Risk Factor for Patients with Stroke-Induced Dysphagia?” When asked about her priorities for the future, Dr Trapl-Grundschober answers brightly, “At the moment I’m concentrating on publishing my findings from the MedISID project. I meet regularly with my research colleagues, and we exchange information about our projects and progress. I have gained a fantastic international network of experts in the fields of neurology, ENT, speech therapy and geriatric medicine. At the University Hospital itself, Associate Professor Walter Struhal also adds useful input. In the future, we will be looking more closely at endoscopic swallowing diagnostics in everyday clinical practice and research.”

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