April 2008

Project provides help for older people with hearing loss

A new Caulfield General Medical Centre project seeks to improve care for patients who are hard of hearing.

A speech pathology department audit found up to half the patients admitted to CGMC aged care wards had some form of hearing loss. 

Prevalence was likely to be higher at times, given three in four people over 70 have hearing problems.

Hearing loss was identified as an area requiring specific care strategies as part of the Improving Care for Older People project.

Project Co-ordinator Bee Cochran said the project had focused on investigating best practice and identifying current issues and challenges.

‘We found some staff have insufficient knowledge to deal with hearing aid problems plus there are complexities in identifying hearing loss when there is cognitive impairment,’ Ms Cochran said.

‘We have consulted with similar hospitals—including St Vincent’s Hospital, designated Victoria’s first deaf and hard-of-hearing-friendly hospital—and found the best strategy is to have specialised staff with a defined role supporting and advising staff managing patients who are hard of hearing, as well as providing training in using specialised assistive equipment,’ Ms Cochran said.

Anne Beirne, the speech pathologist who assisted with the project, noted early screening would pick up any hearing problems and following that with appropriate intervention could make a significant difference to the degree of patient engagement in rehabilitation.

During 2008 and led by Speech Pathology, resources will be identified to provide education to relevant staff about hearing aids and communication strategies with those patients who are hard of hearing and early identification of hearing impairment.