By Caitlin Sapp and Wendy Crumley Welsh
This article is a part of the September/October 2019, Volume 31, Number 5, Audiology Today issue.
Public health agencies, in conjunction with Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs, monitor the results of newborn screening outcomes, newborns with risk factors for the late onset of hearing loss, the prevalence of confirmed hearing loss, the type and degree of these losses, and the number of babies enrolled in services. A public health system is the best way for all of the parties providing hearing care to a child to have access to the results of the provided care.
The system is only as good as the data entered, however. A child’s history is critical to providing proper care. We all know that relying on parental reporting alone can create gaps in a case history. As an audiologist, you have an ethical obligation to adhere to appropriate screening and follow-up protocols for every infant, every time.
Hearing loss is considered a developmental emergency (AAP, 2019; Wycoff, 2013). That is why providing timely guidance, therapy, and psychosocial support are critical. Loss-to-follow-up and loss-to-documentation are barriers that prevent EHDI programs from achieving their mission.
Public health systems work daily to increase the number of infants who receive timely care. It takes a village to manage a child’s hearing care. The goal of every Department of Health is to ensure that babies in need are provided with all of the services to which they are entitled.
Based on research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends EHDI programs implement the “1-3-6 timeline,” which aims for all infants to receive a hearing screening by one month of age, diagnosis by three months of age, and enrollment in early intervention by six months of age (Yoshinaga-Itano et al, 1998). The EHDI program and its information system (EHDI-IS) can play a pivotal role in improving patient outcomes, regardless of the type of intervention a family chooses.
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