PURPOSE: to assess the efficacy of speech therapy in reducing hospital time in pre-term newborns. METHODS: comparing 46 pre-term infants between 2000 and 2002 in Marly Sarney maternity when the speech therapy service was not available in that hospital for 50 pre-term infants between 2002 and 2004 when that service was initiated. Data was obtained from patient charts. RESULTS: among the pre term newborns, those that received speech therapy had a shorter hospitalization time: 88% were discharged between day 1 and day 10, 8% between day 11 and day 20 and just 2% stayed between 41 and 50 days and 2% 61 and 70 days. Among those who did not undergo speech therapy just 47,9% were discharged between day 1 and day 10 17,7% of these patients were discharged between the 11th and the 20th day, 10,4% were discharged between the 21st and 30th days, 9,4% were discharged between 31 and 40 days, 9,4% were discharged between 41 and 50 days, 3,1% were discharged between 51 and 60 days and 2,1% were discharged between 61 and 70 days. This aspect was statistically significant (p-value< 0.000). CONCLUSION: the data showed the efficacy of speech therapy with pre-term infants. There was an association between shorter hospitalization time and speech therapy presence.
Infant, Newborn; Infant, Premature; Speech Therapy
