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ABSTRACT INFORMATION
Title: 'OAE Screening in Primary Healthcare Settings - A Pilot Project' Track: 1-EHDI Program Enhancement Audience: Primary Audience: Secondary Audience: Tertiary Audeince: Keyword(s): early childhood screening, clinics, lost to follow up Learning Objectives: * Understand the feasibility of utilizing OAE screening in primary care settings * Provide data to support early childhood hearings screening in primary care settings *Understand and articulate the benefit of periodic early childhood hearing screening *Have a strategy for reducing the lost to follow up challenge EHDI programs face Abstract: While approximately 95% of newborns in the United States are screened for hearing loss before hospital discharge, follow-up screening, diagnosis and early intervention are a major challenge. In some states, up to 50% of infants who fail their hospital screening are lost to follow-up (White, 2005). In addition, newborn hearing screening does not identify late onset or progress childhood hearing loss. It should also be noted that lost to follow up disproportionately affects low-income and uninsured families. In order to ensure children with hearing loss are appropriately identified, this pilot project looked at integrating early childhood hearing screening into routine well-child care in community and school health clinics. This project trained community clinic medical assistants in using otoacoustic emissions to screen each child prior to the child seeing the healthcare provider, just as heights, weights and other information is obtained. In addition the medical providers were trained and educated about appropriate follow up and referrals. A total of 846 children, ranging in age from 3 months to 5 years were screened, with an initial pass rate of 81%, an initial refer rate of 16%, and with 3% unable to be completed. Follow up screening indicate a final pass rate of 96%, a final refer rate of 4% and an identification rate of .35%. A total of 3 children with permanent hearing loss were identified. These results support integrating otoacoustic emissions hearing screening in primary care settings. Conducting hearing screenings in the medical home helps reduce lost to follow-up and provides a mechanism for consistent early childhood hearing screening for late onset and progressive hearing loss. Community health clinics are an ideal setting to not only provide early childhood hearing screening but to also close the gaps for hearing health disparities among low income and uninsured people. Handouts: Handout is not Available
SPEAKER INFORMATION
PRESENTER(S): Terry Foust - Intermountain Healthcare      Credentials: Senior Healthcare Executive, Intermountain Health Care Au.D., Audiologist SLP - Speech-:Language Pathologist      Other Affiliations: National Center for Hearing Assessment an Management - Consultant       Terry Foust, AuD., has implemented and directed large newborn hearing screening programs in Utah and Idaho. He has provided consultation services to the Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB), the HRSA Office of Performance Review (OPR), the Medicaid and Medicare Policy Research Center and the NCHAM. He is a National Technical Assistance Network audiologist for NCHAM providing support to state EHDI programs and the Early Childhood Hearing Outreach program. International experience includes work and consultation in Accra (Ghana Africa), Costa Rica, Cairo Egypt, and most recently in Mumbai India. Professional honors include being the first recipient of the newly established Mary J. Webster Distinguished Service Award from the Utah Speech-Language and Hearing Association, recognition by Utah Business Magazine as the 2007 Healthcare Hero of the year as an administrator, the 2006 recipient of the national Larry H. Mauldin award for excellence in audiology education and other honors.   AUTHOR(S): William Eiserman - NCHAM      Credentials: Ph.D.       BIO: William Eiserman is the Director of the Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) Initiative at NCHAM, Utah State University. In this capacity, Dr. Eiserman has lead a national effort in assisting Early, Migrant, and American Indian/Alaska Native Head Start programs in updating hearing screening practices. Incollaboration with a team of experts, Dr. Eiserman has designed training systems, mechanisms for tracking and follow-up, and evaluation strategies. The ECHO Initiative has improved hearing screening practices in early intervention. Aside from his nearly ten-year history working with EHDI efforts, Dr. Eiserman’s career has focused on efforts to improve early intervention systems for children with special needs. He has extensive international and cross-cultural experience including work in Ecuador, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Russia and Indonesia. In 1989-90 he was a Fulbright Scholar to Indonesia where he taught qualitative research and evaluation methods and assisted in developing an organization providing medical care to children with craniofacial disfigurement Lenore Shisler - NCHAM      Credentials: M.S.       BIO: Lenore Shisler is a Senior Research Scientist with the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management. Her work scope has included providing technical assistance to states implementing newborn hearing screening programs, advising a software development team on international, state and hospital data management needs, writing software user guides, and working with the American Academy of Pediatrics and other professional organizations to create instructional materials for physicians and parents on infant and toddler hearing loss. Most recently, her work has focused on promoting periodic screening in early childhood settings to identify children with post-neonatal hearing loss. Current projects include expanding and refining instructional materials to assist Early Head Start grantees in improving and updating their hearing screening practices and developing materials and a protocol to assist primary care providers in integrating objective hearing screening into well-child visits.