Speech therapy teleconsultations of a public telehealth service in a developing country

Our aim is to assess speech therapy teleconsultations performed by the Telehealth Network of Minas Gerais, a public telehealth service that attends 722 cities in Brazil, to demonstrate the importance of the telehealth to support these professionals. In this observational retrospective study, consecutive speech therapy teleconsultations performed by the Telehealth Network of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from February 2011 to May 2014, were analyzed. Socio-demographic characteristics of the cities which requested teleconsultations were assessed, and teleconsultations were analyzed based on the type of query. Throughout the study, 259 valid speech therapy teleconsultations were performed. There were no significant differences in socio-demographic characteristics of municipalities that requested and did not request speech therapy teleconsultations. Speech therapists (65%), nurses (27%) and physicians (5%) requested the highest number of teleconsultations, mostly related to the area of language (47%), oral motor skills (29%), voice (20%), audiology (18%) and dysphagia (10%). In conclusion, teleconsultations demonstrated to be a potential tool for speech therapists working in remote areas.