15th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 13-15, 2016 • San Diego, CA
| - | 9 - Program Evaluation and Quality Improvement
Achieving Quality in an Outsourced Newborn Hearing Screening Program
With increasing healthcare costs and burden on hospital staff to provide quality newborn hearing screening, outsourcing can provide needed financial and staffing assistance. Maintaining compliance with mandatory state requirements and meeting recommendations by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) requires a full-time dedicated staff. Hearing loss is one of the most common birth defects identified in the newborn population but in order to ensure infants with hearing loss are identified early, quality newborn hearing screening and follow-up programs must be in place. The program in this study is supported by an outsourced staff of audiologists, speech-language pathologists and nurses to provide a focused, multi-disciplinary approach to monitor, and improve newborn hearing screening programs. The program is dedicated to family-centered care and, to achieve this, screening is conducted in the room with parents, and includes parent education. Results to be discussed will
1) Utilize PDSA cycles to evaluate the benefit of parent education prior to delivery versus at the time of the newborn hearing screen by means of a parent questionnaire. 2) Compare loss to follow-up rates for providing out-patient rescreen (appointment made prior to discharge), to referral to another out-patient facility (appointment made prior to discharge), to referral without an appointment.
3) Evaluate the timeliness of meeting rescreen by 1 month criteria for providing out-patient rescreen versus referring out with an appointment versus referring out without an appointment.
Consistent management by a regional team for training and oversight of newborn hearing screeners allows for continuous evaluation of services in order to maintain and enhance screening for newborns and their families. Identifying newborns at risk for hearing loss and assisting families in appropriate next steps will enable babies with hearing loss to receive timely early intervention to meet the 1-3-6 benchmarks critical for language development while minimizing loss to follow-up.
- Discuss benefit of parent education prior to delivery.
- Compare loss to follow-up rates for different out-patient rescreen scenarios.
- Evaluate the timeliness of meeting rescreen by 1 month criteria for different out-patient rescreen scenarios.
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Presenters/Authors
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ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Tammy Uehlin
(Co-Presenter,Author,POC), Natus/Peloton Screening Services, Tammy.Uehlin@natus.com;
Tammy Uehlin, Au.D., CCC-A received a Bachelor of Science (Speech/Language Pathology) and Master of Communication Disorders (Audiology) from Auburn University and Doctor of Audiology from the University of Florida. She has been a member of the American Speech Language and Hearing Association, (ASHA) for over 25 years. Her experience in clinical audiology includes working at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) Hospital, Veterans Administration Medical Center, HealthSouth Rehabilitation, and in private practice at an otorhinolaryngology office. Her background in newborn hearing screening includes providing screenings, training and management in the hospital setting and working as an Audiology Consultant for a newborn hearing screening company. She served as the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Coordinator for the state of Georgia prior to joining Natus Medical/Peloton Screening Services as an Area Supervisor for Georgia and Florida.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Receives Salary for Employment from Natus Medical, Inc..
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Melissa Richardson
(Co-Presenter,Author), Natus/Peloton Screening Services, Melissa.Richardson@natus.com;
Melissa Richardson, M.S., CCC-A has over 30 years’ experience in many areas of audiology; including newborn hearing screening via OAE, ABR, and AABR, pediatric diagnostics, hearing aid fitting and maintenance, Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, ECHO/Early Head Start, and public school audiology. Melissa also has experience in industrial OSHA screening and military hearing assessment as well as supervision of post graduate on and off campus practicums. She has participated in mission programs for hearing aid assessment/fitting and hopes to do so again.
She received her BS in Communicative Disorders from the University of Mississippi in 1981 and MS in Audiology from the University of Montevallo in 1985. Melissa is a long standing member of ASHA and the Alabama Board of Speech, Language, and Audiology Association.
Melissa resides in Birmingham, Alabama and enjoys reading and any outdoor activity.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Receives Salary for Employment from employee of Natus Medical Inc..
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Amanda Simpson
(Co-Presenter,Author), Natus/Peloton Screening Services, Amanda.Simpson@natus.com;
Amanda Simpson, Au.D., CCC-A graduated from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans with her doctorate degree in audiology. Prior to that, she studied Communication Disorders at LSU main campus, where she discovered how rewarding it is to increase others’ quality of life through better hearing and communication. Amanda has worked for the Veterans Administration (VA) Audiology Clinic, and also dabbled in private practice before joining the Peloton team in January 2015. She currently works as an Area Supervisor for Peloton, supervising newborn hearing screening programs across the state of Louisiana. During her free time, Dr. Simpson enjoys watching football, especially her Tigers and Saints, and loves spending time with her dog, Levee!
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Receives Salary for Employment,Management position from Natus Medical.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Patricia Tulloss
(Co-Presenter,Author), Natus/Peloton Screening Services, Patricia.Tulloss@natus.com;
Pat Tulloss, MS, CCC-SLP worked as a speech-language pathologist for 26 years, first in the public school setting and later at the University of Alabama where she taught classes and supervised student clinicians in the preschool speech and language clinic. Her interests during that time included phonological awareness, phonological disorders, autism, and communication in the Alzheimer’s population. Pat has published therapy materials for phonological awareness and presented extensively about her family’s experience during her mother’s years with Alzheimer’s disease.
After leaving higher education she worked for Source Medical, one of the nation’s largest providers of software for the outpatient rehabilitation market. She served as a software trainer for several years before becoming Director of Training for Source Medical. She joined Peloton in August, 2015 as an Area Supervisor for Alabama and Mississippi, and as a member of the multidisciplinary team that provides supervision for newborn hearing screening.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Receives Salary for Employment,Management position from Natus Medical.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.