Parental satisfaction with an advanced audiology-led triage service in paediatric ENT outpatient clinics

Abstract

Objective

The advanced audiology-led service is designed to triage and manage children who are referred to Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) outpatient services with middle ear or hearing concerns. This service has resulted in shorter waiting times for children to receive ENT treatment, and improved ENT capacity. The aim of this study was to explore parental satisfaction with the advanced audiology-led ENT service and to determine if there were cultural or process factors affecting satisfaction.

Design

Prospective cross-sectional study using a modified Visit-Specific Satisfaction Questionnaire (VSQ-9) survey.

Study Sample

One hundred and thirteen parents of children consecutively attending a first appointment in the advanced audiology-led service recruited between October 2016 and October 2017.

Results

There were a total of 100 valid responses (rate of 88.5%). The survey showed high levels of satisfaction. Satisfaction scores were significantly higher for items related to interactions with the audiologist compared to items related to waiting times. There were no differences in satisfaction across cultural groups. Parents were equally satisfied with the service whether their child was managed independently by the audiologist or required another appointment for medical input.

Conclusions

The advanced audiology-led service had high levels of satisfaction from parents attending with their children.

Keywords:

• Advanced audiology
• extended scope
• satisfaction
• ENT outpatient service
• paediatrics

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Elizabeth Ward for her advice and assistance in the early stages of the development of this project and Sally-Ann Schilt for her clinical input and oversight of the advanced audiology concept.

Ethical approval

Ethical clearance was provided by the Metro-South Human Research Ethics Committee within Queensland Health (HREC/13/QPAH/688) and the University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee.

Disclosure statement

There were no conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. M.A.P and B.C.S.W were employed by the facility where this study took place and were part of the clinical team providing services to the advanced audiology service and ENT service respectively.