Treating lost language: speech pathology management of aphasia in the acute hospital setting

Abstract

Losing the ability to communicate verbally or understand spoken words and conversation can have devastating psycho-social consequences. For some patients admitted to hospital with stroke and other brain injury this loss of language can be a profound, life-changing occurrence. Aphasia refers to a language impairment resulting from brain injury. Speech pathology assessment and treatment for speech and language deficits following brain injury forms an integral part of clinical management within the acute hospital phase for patients with stroke. This clinical data-mining project evolved following the implementation of a formal standardised aphasia test in the acute hospital setting, the Bedside Evaluation Screening Test for Aphasia - 2 (BEST-2), applicable to such patients. Despite growing evidence regarding the benefits of providing early and high frequency aphasia therapy, aphasia therapy is typically a lower priority in the acute setting, with dysphagia {swallowing) management often consuming the majority of speech pathology time. This clinical data-mining project provides a profile of aphasia assessment and therapy in the acute setting and discusses future directions and speech pathology service delivery within this population