Speech therapists/ audiologists professional activities in Primary Health Care in Brazil

expert consensus

Abstract

Introduction: The insertion of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology in Primary Health Care (PHC) in Brazil took place more strongly with the creation of the Family Health Support Centers (NASF), starting in 2008. However, the NASF, together with the PHC and the Unified Health System (SUS), has been increasingly attacked by the shortfall caused by the current political situation. It is necessary that health managers recognize the importance of maintaining this profession in this scenario and, therefore, they need to know the activities developed by speech therapists in PHC. Objective: Identify the professional activities of the speech therapists/audiologists in PHC in Brazil. Methods: E-Delphi was used to obtain consensus, whose criterion was 70%. Results: 45, 31 and 26 public health speech therapists participated (in stages 1, 2 and 3) and 28 speech therapists/audiologists from other areas in stage 4. Common activities included: teamwork, shared care, continuing education, referral / counter-reference, elaboration of educational material, health surveillance, reporting / advice and management exercise. The specific activities included: matrix support in speech therapy, health policies and planning of care networks focused on speech health, promotion, prevention, situational diagnosis, reception, guidance and follow-up speech therapy, construction and systematization of epidemiological data, promotion of healthy environments to human communication, guidance on the scope of speech therapy, individual, collective and home care, actions aimed at specific population groups, screening and speech management. Conclusion: The activities pointed out in the study are in line with the literature and touch the attributes of PHC.