Speech-language pathologist involvement in the paediatric intensive care unit

Purpose: To measure the prevalence of speech-language pathologist (SLP) involvement and associated trends for critically ill children in United States (US) paediatric intensive care units (PICU) through secondary analysis of the Prevalence of Acute Rehab for Kids in the PICU (PARK-PICU) study data. Method: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional point prevalence study conducted over 1 day in 82 US PICUs. Data collected included SLP presence, patients’ age, length of stay, medical interventions, aetiology, admission data, Glasgow Coma Scale scores, staffing involvement, and family presence. Result: Among 961 patients, 82 were visited by an SLP on the study day for a prevalence of 8.5%. Most visits were for children <3 years old. The odds of SLP involvement were lower for children who were 7–12 years old (vs. age 0–2; adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.28; 95% CI 0.1–0.8), were mechanically ventilated via endotracheal tube (vs. room air; aOR 0.02; 95% CI 0.005–0.11), or had mild or severe disability (mild vs. no disability; aOR 0.34; 95% CI 0.16–0.76 and severe vs. no disability; aOR 0.39; 95% CI 0.17–0.90). Concurrent physical and/or occupational therapy involvement was associated with higher odds of SLP involvement (aOR 3.6; 95% CI 2.1–6.4). Conclusion: SLP involvement is infrequent in US PICUs. PICU teams should be educated about the scope of SLP practice, to support communication and oral feeding needs during early recovery from critical illness.