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The Status Of Tracheostomy Patients Receiving Speech Therapy: A Pilot Study, Cai-Jhen Lu, Ya-Hui Wang

Rehabilitation Practice and Science

Objectives: Many patients with tracheostomy have significant communication and swallowing difficulties, impairing their quality of life. They also have eating problems because they cannot eat by mouth, and require tube-feeding to receive adequate nutrition. Furthermore, most conscious tracheostomy patients need to communicate with body language because they have difficulties in verbal communication. The patients' treatment rate in speech therapy is not high, and the medical staff in different medical branches have varying degrees of awareness. Few studies exist in Taiwan on the needs of tracheostomy patients to treat the problems of their communication and swallowing. Methods: We conducted a survey …