- Design
- Retrospective single-centre cohort
- Population
- Adults having open surgical tracheostomy, Jan 2023–May 2024
- Primary outcome
- Time to decannulation and hospital length of stay
- Effect
- Each day earlier SLP consult: 1.39 days shorter stay (P<0.000001)
A single-centre retrospective review examined all open surgical tracheostomies at a US academic hospital between January 2023 and May 2024, recording when speech-language pathology was first consulted, time to decannulation and length of stay.
Earlier consultation was associated with earlier decannulation and shorter hospital stay. Each day earlier that speech and language therapy became involved was associated with a stay about 1.39 days shorter, which the authors translated into substantial cost savings per day saved.
The association is plausible: speech and language therapists lead on swallow assessment, speaking valves and cuff deflation, which are steps towards decannulation. But patients who were consulted early may have been less unwell, and the abstract does not report how that was handled. The findings apply to open, not percutaneous, tracheostomy.
- Consider requesting speech and language therapy review early after tracheostomy rather than waiting for weaning.
- Build early speech and language therapy referral into tracheostomy care pathways.
- Involve the team in swallow assessment and speaking valve trials as soon as the patient is stable.
- Note that the data come from open tracheostomies at one centre.
Why it matters
Referral timing is easy to change, and the stays involved are long and costly.
Don't overread it
Single-centre and observational — early referral may mark less unwell patients rather than cause faster recovery.
The statistics, in plain English
A 1.39-day shorter stay per day of earlier referral is an association across patients, not a measured effect of moving referral earlier. Sicker patients may have been referred later and stayed longer for other reasons.
Read the rest in the app
You have read your two free briefings this month. The app carries all 27 specialties, every morning, free — and this finding is waiting in it.
Scan to keep reading on your phone. No account needed to start.
Tomorrow morning, before your first patient
One edition a day for ent & head and neck surgery, written by the desk, every claim tied to its paper. Six minutes.
Get the app — free