Profile of users receiving Speech-Language Therapy service at a Critical Patient Unit

• Autor(a) principal: Campo Rivas,Manuel del
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Estay Jorquera,Pamela, Valencia Rojas,Gabriela, Muñoz Ramos,Paula, Arce Rossel,Karen, Silva-Ríos,Angélica
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista CEFAC (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-18462021000100502
• topic: Critical Care; Speech-Language Pathology; Professional Practice

ABSTRACT Objective: to describe the profile of patients treated by Speech-Language therapists in a Critical Patient Unit. Methods: an ex post facto, observational and descriptive study was carried out. Monthly statistical data of patients hospitalized in the period January-December 2018 were analyzed, in the Intensive Care Unit at a public hospital. Data were described from the analysis of frequency and measures of central tendency. The distribution of the variables was determined through the skewness-kurtosis test, considering a significance level of p<0.05. Results: 217 individuals got 868 speech-language therapy services. Men (57.26%), older than 65 years old, required a more frequent intervention. The main medical diagnosis of admission to the unit corresponded to non-specific pathologies (57.14%), respiratory disease (15.21%) and cerebrovascular disease (12.79%). The speech-language therapy functions were related to the evaluation of swallowing (54.31%) and voice (32.4%). In relation to the intervention, the treatment of dysphagia (25.82%) and oral motor functions (25.04%) was predominant in the duties. Functions associated with language, speech and cognition were secondary. Conclusion: the profile of the critical patient and the speech-language therapy work in this field represent a first step to characterize the role of the speech-language therapist in Intensive Medicine teams.