Universal newborn hearing screening follow-up: a university clinic perspective.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the referral and follow-up procedures at a university clinic to determine whether the early intervention program is achieving the goals of diagnosis of hearing loss by 3 months, amplification within 1 month of diagnosis, and intervention services by 6 months, as outlined in the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH; 2007) position statement.


METHODS
Files for 142 infants were examined, and the following data were collected from each file: date of birth, birth hospital, hometown, parents' ages, ethnicity, nursery status (well baby or neonatal intensive care unit), medical history, age at initial evaluation and at diagnosis, results of evaluation(s), and age at hearing aid fitting and start of early intervention services.


RESULTS
Results revealed that 17% of infants were older than 3 months at the initial evaluation, and 18% of infants who needed further evaluation were lost to follow-up. None of the infants identified with hearing loss received amplification within 1 month of diagnosis or early intervention services by the age of 6 months.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings provide further evidence of the challenges of early intervention programs as stated by the JCIH (2007), and they emphasize the importance of communication between practitioners and implementation of monitoring systems and checks and balances to improve the efficacy of early intervention programs.
Krishnan
Lata A
LA
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, 500 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. krishnal@purdue.edu
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001298:Audiology; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007196:Indiana; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015997:Neonatal Screening / Q000592:standards; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013997:Time Factors