Interesting Reads: My New E-Book Shares The Hearing Loss Patient’s Perspective

I am excited to announce the publication of my first e-book — “A Primer on Person-Centered Care From the Patient’s Perspective!” In it I share the fits and starts of the early days of my hearing loss journey and how person-centered care could have made my transition from hearing to hearing loss much easier.

The e-book shares my personal hearing loss journey, examines some of my experiences with audiologists over the years, and lays out my formula for person-centered care from the patient perspective. It also provides suggestions for how audiologists can incorporate each component into their daily interactions with patients.

Person Centered Care in Four Easy Steps

The four components of person-centered care from the patient perspective include:

1. Partner With Your Patient. Each person’s hearing loss journey is unique so a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Focusing on what is important to your patient will increase his satisfaction and improve compliance.

2. Make Your Office Hearing Loss Friendly. Remember, people are there because they cannot hear well. Train your staff to use communication best practices and have assistive listening technology on hand to aid as needed.

3. Embrace Creativity. Don’t get trapped in a hearing aid only approach. Linking aids to other assistive listening devices will give your clients greater access in a wider variety of situations. Stay current as new options become available.

4. Think Beyond The Technology. Share basic communication tips with your patients and their families. Simple adjustments in behavior alone can increase communication success and lower frustration for both sides.

For each component, the e-book lays out why it is important and provides actionable suggestions that audiologists can use to make their practice more person-centered. Click here to read the e-book. 

Taking the Patient Perspective to Audiologists

I hope the book will provide audiologists with valuable insights they can use to make their practices more person-centered. I recently led a 90 minute interactive workshop at the New York State Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s 2019 Convention on this topic and there was much interest from the audiologists in attendance. Many shared feedback with me during and after the session about how important it is for audiologists to hear the patient perspective. I agree.

My goal is to take this message to other audiologist gatherings this year, including audiology programs for students. Exposure to the patient perspective early in an audiologist’s education is critical to the development of a person-centered patient care philosophy. If you or someone you know are interested in bringing a patient speaker to your next audiology-related gathering, please contact me at shari@livingwithhearingloss.com.

Click here to read the e-book. I hope you find it useful. My thanks to Ida Institute for commissioning this work.

Readers, does your audiologist practice person-centered care?

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Book: Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss