PURPOSE: to characterize the speech therapy service of home care service companies in Salvador. METHODS: a partially retrospective survey through questionnaires done by companies, speech therapists and patients attended by speech therapist from January to March 2006. RESULTS: companies have been open an average of 9.17 years. The average number of speech therapists per company is 3.17 and the average number of patients attended by speech therapist is 14.33; 100% of the company professionals are licensed doctors and physical therapists; speech therapists work as service rendering self-employed professionals, with average cost of R$ 33,00 per attendance. Most patients are women, elderly (average of 69 years), with diagnosis of neurological illness: Cerebrovascular disease (39.1%), Dementia (19.1%); most of the speech therapists are young women, who graduated from a local school. CONCLUSIONS: home care service is a recent activity in Bahia. However, speech therapist presence is already settled, with professionals graduated in their own states and working as service rendering self-employed professionals.
Home Care Services; Home Nursing; Homebound Persons; Deglutition Disorders; Speech Therapy
