Abstract
Stroke is a common disease for people and a global public health concern in terms of mortality, disability, and cost demand. This study aims to assess which groups of comorbidities related to speech-language disorders are identified by physicians and nurses of the Family Health Strategy (FHS) as to be referred to post-stroke speech-language rehabilitation at Primary and Secondary Health Care. Twenty-two physicians and nurses, from the FHS supported by the Family Health Support Center in southern Brazil, answered a questionnaire developed for this study, exploring socio-demographic variables, education background, professional performance and conduct to post-stroke patients. A descriptive data analysis (absolute and relative frequencies) was performed in SPSS Software 22. Among the participants, 77.3% refer post-stroke patients to physiotherapy and 54.5% to speech-language rehabilitation. None refer to patients to treatment due to cognitive comprehension sequelae; 90.0% refer for significant speech-language disorders. In case of changes in the stomatognathic system, 80.0% of physicians do not refer to speech-language pathologists, and 83.3% of nurses usually do. The professionals showed difficulty in identifying speech-language pathological signs and symptoms related to cognition and the stomatognathic system, not referring to speech-language rehabilitation at primary or secondary health care. The results highlight the importance of continuing education and improvement of the knowledge of the primary health care teams, so that speech-language sequelae are properly identified and sent for rehabilitation.
Highlights
The global burden of stroke is 59.2%, and it is responsible for 5.7% of years lived with disabilities in people 70 years of age or older[1]
Considering the above and thinking about the importance of rehabilitation after a stroke, this study aims at assessing which groups of comorbidities, related to speech-language disorders, are identified by physicians and nurses of the Family Health Strategy (FHS) and referred to post-stroke speech-language rehabilitation at Primary and Secondary Health Care
Ten physicians and twelve nurses from the FHS teams supported by the Family Health Support Center (FHSC) composed the sample, being the majority were females (81.8%)
Summary
The global burden of stroke is 59.2%, and it is responsible for 5.7% of years lived with disabilities in people 70 years of age or older[1]. To improve post-discharge rehabilitation[2,8], clinical practice guidelines recommend rapid and comprehensive assessment, active control for evaluation and early planning of rehabilitation interventions – involving professional training programs and continuing education of multiprofessional stroke assistance teams. In this consensus, aiming at improving the care of the acute event and post-event sequelae, several countries joined the stroke care units[9,8]
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