Resource For Audiologists Released Through Partnership with Phonak
by Terri Patterson and Janet DesGeorges, H&V Headquarters
Want to partner better with families of children in your audiology practice? As a parent, do you wish for a true collaboration with your child’s hearing health care providers? A new resource has recently been released through a partnership between Phonak and Hands & Voices (H&V), the Guide for Parent-Professional Partnerships in the Hearing Healthcare Setting.
H&V provides parent-tested resources and supports to families and professionals to promote partnerships towards the goal of successful outcomes for all deaf/hard of hearing children. Positive family/child outcomes depend on a system of care in which family and professional partnerships are both philosophically and practically implemented. Good outcomes are more likely if the family, child and providers develop an ongoing shared understanding and jointly create a child-friendly service plan in partnership with each other.
This guidebook walks hearing care providers (HCP) through the process of creating the essential elements of partnership from the perspective of experienced families who contributed to the creation of this document. This resource can be used in several different settings.
For hearing care providers:
- Hearing Care Providers will be able to use the guide as a tool for enriching their individual relationships with families/patients.
- HCPs can consider their entire clinic experience in the eyes of families. What’s working and what’s not in terms of scheduling, the waiting room, timing, repairs, and family-friendly practices?
- Programs may consider implementing practices in this guidebook for audiological services in clinics, research, training programs, and audiological missions/outreach.
Although this guidebook was developed for providers, it provides many valuable and applicable benefits to us as parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The guidebook sets a standard for what we can expect from the professionals in our child’s corner. From the moment we walk in the door to meet with our HCP, we should feel that we are in a partnership. We strive to develop a long-term relationship that is built on trust, mutual acceptance, shared understanding and respect that will help us increase our own knowledge, empower us to make good decisions for OUR child and become equal partners in the delivery of services.
For parents, this guidebook can help us to:
- Recognize our responsibility, as a parent, to be open, honest and communicate with our HCP about our need for comprehensive medical and technology information
- Understand how to engage the team of professionals that we may work with if our child has health or development concerns in addition to his/her hearing condition, and the importance of doing so.
- Explore strategies for partnering with our HCP before, during and after visits.
- Receive guidance in the decision-making process.
- Understand the importance of our role as decision maker and participation in the assessment process.
- Access other families with children who are D/HH and D/HH adult role models.
Look into the future for a sense of what to expect, consider and prepare for as our child grows.
Real life experiences
As a parent of a young adult who is deaf, the positive, honest, and equal relationships that we built and nurtured with the professionals supporting my son and our family still exist in our lives. These individuals are now considered friends, mentors, even family to us. When our son was first identified, our family had no experience or idea how we could be equipped to provide everything he needed and how he would fit into our lives. We moved through early screening and medical appointments; we withdrew, we grieved.
However, I vividly remember the morning I walked into our new audiologist’s office with our four-month-old baby; I was unsure, nervous, apologetic (not sure why) and she walked right up to us with a huge smile, put her arms out to Riley and started interacting with him, and then asked me how I was doing! We weren’t ushered into a cold waiting room, nor did the conversation start with her looking at medical reports and graphs, or with her poking in his tiny little ears. We talked; we got to know each other. She asked me about our family and about our baby; she told me about herself and shared information about hearing loss and what our future could look like. Then, we began to work through our next steps, and she asked about our priorities, our hopes. We began to grow our relationship, our trust and ultimately my confidence.”
Share this guidebook with your HCP(s), talk through your hopes, your expectations and your needs. If your HCP already implements these practices, you and your child can only benefit! This coproduction requires the idea of partnership from the moment your family walks through the door–from planning and designing a course of action, to co-managing and providing the supports necessary for the child, to monitoring and evaluating progress—=ultimately leading to successful outcomes for your child and the growth of a healthy, trusting relationship that supports your family’s journey. ~
To contact the authors email us at: janet @handsandvoices.org