Abstract

There is a need to develop tools that demonstrate the impact of speech therapy intervention in the hospital setting, which requires the implementation of care and management models that favor clinical demand and efficiency of processes and equipment. Various professions in the health area have used categorization models that, along with satisfying the demands of patients, translate the activities of their discipline into management terms. Currently, in the speech therapy field, there are no tools of this kind available that allow determining the amount of care necessary for a person in a hospital context. Due to the above circumstances, this article presents the creation, development and application of a qualitative-quantitative matrix. The objective of the matrix is to assess and standardize the speech therapy workload required for each hospitalized adult patient, considering their global clinical context. This categorization matrix considers five clinical variables evaluated during the patient's rehabilitation and four qualifiers in relation to the order of severity. Different categories of care that deliver a recommended therapeutic load (from 1 to 2 weekly visits in mild cases to 2 daily visits in complex cases) are established and proposed. Finally, their use and the benefits of their implementation are discussed as a tool that allows optimizing management processes, determining gaps and justifying the inclusion of new speech therapists in the hospital context.