19th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 8-10, 2020 • Kansas City, MO
Pediatric Palliative Care: Where Does Audiology Fit Into The Puzzle?
A child receiving palliative care services might be daunting to an audiologist. There might be uncertainty for the audiologist regarding the wishes of the patient and family and how they would view the diagnosis of hearing loss to the child’s care plan. Though a major gray zone, it is imperative that audiology communicates in an open fashion with the family and learns of their wants for their child. Similar to choosing a communication mode for a child, the audiologist must learn of the family’s hopes and aspirations for their child and learn of the child’s goals of care. Though it may be unclear whether to complete a newborn hearing screening or to move forward with amplification, all options should be discussed and given. Proposed clinical pathways for these patients include: A) watch and wait B) audiologic intervention with hesitation and C) typical audiologic intervention. Watch and wait refers to not moving forward with evaluation and/or treatment and rather monitor the child as they progress. Audiologic intervention with hesitation would suggest involving audiologic intervention but with alteration of “best practice” timelines and recommendations. The typical audiologic management pathway would be moving forward with best practice in terms of both assessing hearing sensitivity and appropriate audiologic re/habilitation. Every child will not fit into these proposed clinical pathways; these categories are suggested as a starting place for clinicians. In palliative care, children and families have goals of care that attempt to address what they hope to accomplish through medical intervention. It is imperative that the audiologist learn the family’s goals of care and whether audiologic intervention is helping to achieve their goals of care. If available, a multi-disciplinary approach involving the expertise of care coordination within palliative care should be taken in order to ensure that all information is disseminated to the family.
- To define palliative care and identify services provided to pediatric patients managed by palliative care.
- To identify potential audiologic clinical pathways for audiologists who are involved in the care and management of children who receive palliative care services.
- To provide culturally competent counseling options to families and patients who receive palliative care services
Poster:
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Presenter: Jacinto Fragoso
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Holly Gerth, AuD, is an inpatient pediatric audiologist and has practiced audiology for more than 7 years. At Nationwide Children’s, Holly is responsible for answering all inpatient consults, performing diagnostic hearing evaluations in a variety of settings (Operating Room, Procedure Center, bedside testing) and managing inpatients with hearing loss. Before working at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Holly worked as a pediatric audiologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Holly enjoys working with children with hearing loss and their families. She strives to provide the most comprehensive care possible, aiming to put her patients on the path to achieve success. Holly has an interest in audiologic electrophysiology and universal newborn hearing screening. She is an extern supervisor and active in multiple clinical outcome groups.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.