Profile of speech therapy in oncology and palliative care residency program at an oncology referral hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Hospital environments are among the different professional contexts in which speech therapists can work. Patients with cancer or at their final stage of life are eligible for speech therapy intervention. Based on this premise, a program called Residência Multiprofissional em Saúde was created focusing on Oncology-Palliative Care.Objective: This study aimed to analyze the assistance provided by speech therapists in the scope of a multiprofessional residency program at an oncology referral hospital.Methods: The documentary research was based on a retrospective qualitative-quantitative approach. A sample of 344 m dical records were analyzed using a form containing open and closed questions as part of the study.Results: All data were organized in spreadsheets and submitted to statistical treatment using the chisquared test and the G-test. Only 67 patients were evaluated by speech therapists, and among these only 16 underwent rehabilitation. Functional evaluation of swallowing was the most frequent evaluation method found in the analyzed medical records (9.30%), tactile-thermal-stimulation was the most used therapeutic method in speech therapy (2.03%), and most patients had no clinical evolution with speech therapy (1.74%).Discussion: It is possible to observe a variation in the types of evaluation performed, which makes the evaluation an even more subjective process, increasing the risks of diagnostic confusion. Health services managed based on quality management advocate standardized care, with the implementation of protocols, forms, indicators and care flows; features that have not yet been implemented or developed in current palliative practice.Conclusion: Results suggest that there is a fragmentation in the structure of the Speech Therapy Service, which is directed especially towards swallowing disorders, thus evidencing the need for a systematization of speech therapy assistance provided to PC patients.