Quality Assurance based on the “Weißbuch Cochlea Implant Treatment” based on the example of “Audiological Basic Therapy”

Introduction:

The Weißbuch represents a milestone for Quality Assurance with regards to CI treatment. An example of this is the recommended start of basic therapy maximum 6 weeks after CI. The aim of the study was to survey: 1) whether patients; 2) where patients and 3) when patients had previously received an basic therapy.

Materials and methods:

A retrospective analysis was conducted of 2017 and all adults who had received a CI tracked. Data was collected for a total of 143 cases. 51 of these patients were adapted within the framework of “Early Fitting”(EF). 92 patients underwent the standard adaptation. The period between the operation and the initial adaptation (EA) of the CI was evaluated along with the duration of the EA and the number of appointments.

Results:

The data reveals that the audiological basic therapy for all patients took place at our clinic. For the overall collective, the period between the operation and beginning of the basic therapy lasted 2.6 weeks. The basic therapy was only carried out in two patients after six weeks post CI-OP. In the EF group, the period before the basic therapy even lasted an average of only 4.1 days. In the standard group this lasted 3.7 weeks on average. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). There was an average of 3 EA appointments in both groups.

Summary:

In this patient collective, it could be revealed that the targets of white paper were almost completely achieved. The time period of approx. 6 weeks between the operation and basic therapy, as recommended, could be achieved for 98.5% of our cases as early as 2017. The consideration of individual process parameters can therefore already today provide important information with regards to Quality Assurance based on a CI white paper.

Publikationsverlauf

Publikationsdatum:
23. April 2019 (online)