Evaluation of a teleaudiology service in regional Australia

Abstract

Objective

Evaluate accessibility, effectiveness, acceptability and efficiency of a student- assisted teleaudiology model of care in a regional hospital in Queensland, Australia.

Design

Prospective mixed method service evaluation study.

Study sample

Demographic, service and satisfaction data were collected from 233 patients (children aged ≥5 and adults) who received teleaudiology assessment. Satisfaction data was collected from 27 hospital clinic staff (medical, nursing and clinic assistants) and 28 university audiology clinical educator participants. Experience and satisfaction data were collected from 16 teleaudiology clinic university students. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS software. Qualitative data were analysed using inductive content analysis.

Results

Following introduction of the teleaudiology service in 2017 and evaluation during the first 6 months, 95% of patients were able to access audiology assessments on the same day as their Ear, Nose and Throat appointments. New referrals to the service were seen within a month. The audiology assessment battery was completed 95% of the time within an average of 33 minutes by the end of the study period. Patients, hospital and university staff and students reported high satisfaction with their experiences of teleaudiology, including its convenience and efficiency.

Conclusions

A student-assisted teleaudiology model of care can deliver accessible, effective, and efficient services with high levels of satisfaction by participants.

Keywords:

• Telehealth
• teleaudiology
• student education
• service delivery

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge participants and their families for contributing to this study, the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service and The University of Queensland for their support, and the Allied Health Professions Office of Queensland for its funding of this research.

Ethical approval

This study was granted ethical approval by the Far North Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee (dated 6 June 2017) and the University of Queensland’s Human Research Ethics Committees A & B (dated 21 August 2017). The HREC reference for this study is HREC/17/QCH/24 − 1123. Consent for involvement in the study was obtained for all participants or their guardian as per the method outlined in the Methods section.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, NW, upon reasonable request.