EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
Resources for Audiologists and Stakeholders when Working with Pediatric Patients
When the field of audiology moved to have their accepted level of education be a doctorate, the divide between audiologists and speech-language pathologists grew, and more professionals started entering the workforce without the training needed to care for children with hearing loss (Madell, 2009). In order to provide appropriate habilitation services for these children, we need to bridge the gap between professionals.
One area in which this disconnect can be lessened is in report writing and in opening the line of communication between a child’s audiologist and the caregivers and other stakeholders on that child’s team. Donald and Kelly-Campbell (2016) assessed pediatric audiology reports and their level of readability. Incomprehensible reports do little to support health literacy skills, promote parental and outside professionals’ understanding, offer emotional support, or empower shared decision making (Donald & Kelly-Campbell, 2016). Clear communication is important for both parents and providers. Having a disconnect in communication between members of a child’s team impacts the quality of care and outcomes that a child experiences (Moeller et al., 2013).
Data collection completed by Bargen et al. in the form of audiologic reports from 2017-2020 will be reviewed and their contents analyzed to identify strengths and areas of improvement. A previous review of similar data (Bargen et al., 2017) revealed a need to reinforce positive behaviors, strengthen areas of need with regard to the audiologic evaluation of pediatric patients (age 0-3 years), and the reporting of information gathered during the evaluation. From these analyses, we will compare to best practices, determine what inconsistencies are present, and how to best design a report template and resources that will support both pediatric audiologists and stakeholders in their interdisciplinary care of their D/HH patients. During this presentation, an example template will be provided, which includes audiological information for both audiologists and stakeholders.
- Be able to describe the importance of providing caregivers and stakeholders readable reports.
- Introduce a user-friendly report writing tool.
- Be able to describe the importance of using language that is at an appropriate health literacy level.
Poster:
23278_13669CourtneyKasin.pdf
Presenter: Courtney Kasin
Courtney is a fourth year Doctor of Audiology student at Utah State University, currently completing her externship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH. She graduated with her BA in Communicative Disorders and Religious Studies from University of Redlands in 2018. Prior to moving to Columbus, Courtney was a student in USU’s Listening and Spoken Language and LEND programs. She is looking forward to working with the pediatric population and their families after graduation in 2022.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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Nonfinancial -
Gabriel Anne Bargen, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Idaho State University in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the Meridian Health Science Center. She also serves as the Interim Executive Director for the ISU Health Science Center in Meridian. She teaches courses at ISU, including pediatric audiology, auditory anatomy and physiology, and advance aural rehabilitation. Professional interests include pediatric audiology specifically diagnostic hearing assessment and treatment; assessing risks associated with hearing dysfunction in infants; clinical application of auditory brainstem response (ABR) for hearing screening in newborns, infants, and toddlers. Dr. Bargen’s current research focuses on evaluating risk indicators for delayed-onset hearing loss and finding ways to make resources accessible to all children who are hard of hearing or deaf in Idaho by connecting community entities across the state.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Salary,Grants for Employment,Other activities from Idaho State University.
Nonfinancial -
• Has a Professional
relationship for Board membership.
Dr. Mary M. Whitaker is a clinical professor at Idaho State University (ISU). She has been an audiologist for over 30 years. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech and Hearing Science from University of Utah, a Master of Science in Hearing Science at University of Arizona, and Educational Specialist in Special Education from Idaho State University, and a Doctor of Audiology degree from the University of Florida. Currently, she teaches coursework in educational audiology, genetics for health care professionals, and counseling in audiology. She is a clinical supervisor, the Externship Coordinator and the Program Director in Audiology. In her early career she worked in a rural outreach program providing audiological services to public health, migrant headstart, preschools and headstart programs. She was employed by the Pocatello, ID school district as an educational audiologist. Currently, she works in the ISU Hearing Clinic where she sees infants through adults.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -