SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST’S ROLE IN THE REHABILITATION OF PATIENTS WITH POST COVID CONDITIONS

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 2020. Those patients with severe COVID-19 require hospitalization and oxygen therapy. The disease can get worse by the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which may require admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Mechanical ventilation, combined with sedation or paralysis, prolonged periods of bed rest, and immobilization, can have harmful musculoskeletal effects, such as decreased muscle strength and physical function. Other effects may be respiratory and cognitive deficiencies, dysphagia, communication difficulties and even confusional syndrome. Post-intensive care syndrome encompasses a physical, cognitive and mental disorder that occurs during or after the stay in the ICU.

A post-covid intensive rehabilitation unit was created at the Hospital Dr. Ignacio Pirovano. This team is constituted by a transdisciplinary group of health professionals including doctors (medical clinic, otorhinolaryngology, and neurology), nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, psychologists, music therapists, nutritionists, and speech-language therapists.

The speech-language pathologist’s role in this team is described in this contribution. A detailed description of the evaluation process, intensive rehabilitation, and follow-up of specific functions (communication, language, speech, swallowing, and phonation) is presented. This work promotes the decomplexization process of patients, favoring their functionality for activities of daily living, thus improving their quality of life.