Question
Telehealth is becoming increasingly important in audiology. Can the Ida Institute help hearing care professionals get started with tele-audiology?
Answer
Yes! We have developed Ida Telecare, a collection of easy-to-use online tools and resources designed to help people with hearing loss prepare for appointments and successfully manage everyday communication. The tools can be used to inform and engage first-time and returning clients and ready them for a successful and efficient session that allows more time for counseling based on the client’s individual preferences and needs.
Launched in 2016, the collection includes the Living Well tool, which prepares people with hearing loss for more productive and focused appointments by encouraging them to think about their needs and concerns before they arrive for their appointment. My Turn to Talk helps clients prioritize the most important people with whom they communicate and organize their thoughts to ensure their concerns are addressed during the appointment, while the Why Improve My Hearing tool allows clinicians to engage first-time clients by inviting them to think about how important it is for them to improve their communication.
We’ve also just expanded the platform with three additional resources: The Dilemma Game helps people with hearing loss deal with difficult communication situations. This new tool stimulates the users’ thinking with real life examples from Ida’s extensive ethnographic resource collection and encourages them to come up with their own strategies for how to manage challenging situations.
The new Tinnitus Thermometer is part of a complete collection of online resources designed to support hearing care professionals working with tinnitus patients. It allows users to describe how they are experiencing tinnitus and helps them articulate their feelings about this complex condition.
Finally, our Telecare for Teens and Tweens tools specifically address the needs of teens and young adults with hearing loss and equip them to make decisions related to their hearing loss that are right for them.
In addition to Ida Telecare, Ida Institute also offers a self-development tool, Fit for the Future (https://idainstitute.com/toolbox/self_development/get_started/fit_for_the_future/), which provides inspiration for professionals looking to get started with telehealth.
All of the tools in the Ida Telecare platform are optimized for mobile phones and are freely available at www.idainstitute.com/telecare.
