Expanding the Role of Educational Audiologists After a Failed Newborn Hearing Screening: A Quality Improvement Study.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Sapp, Caitlin, ; Stirn, Jonathan; O'Hollearn, Tammy; Walker, Elizabeth A.
- Source
- American Journal of Audiology; Sep2021, Vol. 30, p631-641, 11p, 6 Charts, 4 Graphs, 1 Map
- Subject
- Occupational roles
Auditory perception testing
Special education
Hearing
Health services accessibility
Human services programs
Comparative studies
Audiometry
Early intervention (Education)
Data analysis
Children
Deafness prevention
Auditory evoked response
Statistics
Medical quality control
Time
Travel
Audiology
Government programs
Quality assurance
Research funding
Descriptive statistics
Brain stem
Probability theory
Diagnostic services
Iowa
- Language
- ISSN
- 10590889
Purpose: Lack of timely and proximal access to diagnostic hearing evaluation using auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing hampers the effectiveness of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs in the United States. This study measured the impact of a state-based quality- improvement (QI) project that provided diagnostic ABR equipment and training to educational audiologists distributed throughout Iowa in regional special education centers. Method: We used de-identified administrative data generated by the state EHDI program to analyze markers of access to early hearing health care for infants in a preproject condition ("Baseline") compared to the implementation of diagnostic ABRs at the regional special education centers ("QI Project"). Results: Our findings revealed that the QI Project was associated with improvements in timeliness of first hearing evaluation, distance traveled for first hearing evaluation, and likelihood of receiving on-guideline audiology care during the first hearing evaluation. Conclusions: Following the onset of the QI Project, infants and their families had greater access to initial hearing evaluation after failed newborn hearing screening. This improvement could have cascading effects on timeliness of later intervention among those with confirmed permanent childhood hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]