Efficacy of a tele audiological diagnostic follow up model in a community based hearing screening program for infants and young children

Abstract

Brainstem Response recording for diagnostic testing Combining a community based screening approach with a tele audiological diagnostic testing is also expected to reduce the cost incurred by the child and family member seeking services in terms of travel and wage loss due to time spent in accessing such services in distant places The provider cost may also decline as infrastructure for telemedicine is transportable and can be a shared resource among communities as compared with building infrastructure procuring equipment and employing professionals at each community Cost effectiveness of interventions is one of the key indicators of returns to society such return Economic analysis seeks to identify and to make explicit a set of criteria which may be useful in prioritising the use of scarce resources Drummond Stoddart and Torrance 1987 as cited in Shamanna Dandona and Rao 1998 page 170 In addition to cost effectiveness scientific evidence of acceptability of telemedicine support its integration into routine practice Williams May and Esmal 2001 Therefore the present study aims to develop a community based model of hearing screening with teleaudiological diagnostic follow up and evaluate its effectiveness as against the traditional face to face follow up at a tertiary care hospital newline