TY - JOUR
T1 - Geographic distribution of the hearing aid dispensing workforce
T2 - A teleaudiology planning assessment for Arizona
AU - Coco, Laura
AU - Titlow, Kyle Sorlie
AU - Marrone, Nicole
N1 - Funding Information:
Research in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Grant R33DC013681 (PI: Nicole Marrone). The authors thank Jay Griffin at the Arizona Department of Health Services for his assistance in accessing health workforce data for this project. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Portions of this research were presented at the 3rd International Internet & Audiology Meeting, Louisville, KY, July 2017, which was funded by National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Grant 1R13DC016547 and the Oticon Foundation, and at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology in San Diego, CA, on February 10, 2018.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Purpose: Teleaudiology helps connect patients in rural and underresourced areas to hearing health care providers, minimizing the barrier of geography (Swanepoel et al., 2010). In the United States, teleaudiology is at the initial stages of implementation (Bush, Thompson, Irungu, & Ayugi, 2016). Telehealth researchers recommend conducting a comprehensive planning assessment to optimize implementation and adoption (AlDossary, Martin-Khan, Bradford, Armfield, & Smith, 2017; Alverson et al., 2008; Krupinski, 2015). A geographic analysis of the hearing aid dispensing workforce served as the initial stage of a teleaudiology planning assessment in Arizona. Method: The analysis used publically available data sets from the U.S. Census, Arizona Department of Health Services, and the U.S. Veterans Administration. Geographic information system tools were used to analyze and visually represent population, potential teleaudiology site data, and hearing aid dispensing workforce (defined as audiologists and hearing instrument specialists licensed to dispense hearing aids in Arizona). ArcGIS was used to generate road networks and travel distance estimations. Results: The number of audiologists per county ranged from 0 to 216 (average 22.1). Six out of Arizona’s 15 counties lacked a single audiologist, and 2 counties lacked a hearing instrument specialist. Potential expansion sites for teleaudiology were located in areas of the state that lacked practice locations for hearing aid services. Conclusions: There are geographic areas of Arizona that lack licensed hearing aid locations yet are populated by individuals who may need services. Resource availability data inform teleaudiology program expansion. Future research will include data from providers and community members on their perceived needs for services.
AB - Purpose: Teleaudiology helps connect patients in rural and underresourced areas to hearing health care providers, minimizing the barrier of geography (Swanepoel et al., 2010). In the United States, teleaudiology is at the initial stages of implementation (Bush, Thompson, Irungu, & Ayugi, 2016). Telehealth researchers recommend conducting a comprehensive planning assessment to optimize implementation and adoption (AlDossary, Martin-Khan, Bradford, Armfield, & Smith, 2017; Alverson et al., 2008; Krupinski, 2015). A geographic analysis of the hearing aid dispensing workforce served as the initial stage of a teleaudiology planning assessment in Arizona. Method: The analysis used publically available data sets from the U.S. Census, Arizona Department of Health Services, and the U.S. Veterans Administration. Geographic information system tools were used to analyze and visually represent population, potential teleaudiology site data, and hearing aid dispensing workforce (defined as audiologists and hearing instrument specialists licensed to dispense hearing aids in Arizona). ArcGIS was used to generate road networks and travel distance estimations. Results: The number of audiologists per county ranged from 0 to 216 (average 22.1). Six out of Arizona’s 15 counties lacked a single audiologist, and 2 counties lacked a hearing instrument specialist. Potential expansion sites for teleaudiology were located in areas of the state that lacked practice locations for hearing aid services. Conclusions: There are geographic areas of Arizona that lack licensed hearing aid locations yet are populated by individuals who may need services. Resource availability data inform teleaudiology program expansion. Future research will include data from providers and community members on their perceived needs for services.
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U2 - 10.1044/2018_AJA-IMIA3-18-0012
DO - 10.1044/2018_AJA-IMIA3-18-0012
M3 - Article
C2 - 30452750
AN - SCOPUS:85056722031
SN - 1059-0889
VL - 27
SP - 462
EP - 473
JO - American journal of audiology
JF - American journal of audiology
IS - 3 Special Issue
ER -