Sara Misurelli, Ph.D., Au.D., CCC-A
Assistant Professor & Director of Audiology at University of Wisconsin Department of Surgery
Enhancing, standardizing, and streamlining the adult cochlear implant pre-operative model
The expansion of adult cochlear implant (CI) candidacy criteria and growing awareness of CIs has led to more adults with hearing loss becoming interested in learning about, and ultimately choosing to pursue, cochlear implantation. This trend has both (2) brought an increase in demand to the audiology and surgical CI teams, and (2) younger CI candidates who are still employed and active in their communities making it challenging to find time to attend multiple pre-operative CI appointments. With this, it is vital to revisit the pre-operative CI care plan. Additionally, pre-operative audiology testing and appointment structure varies between centers. The goal of this work is to assess current state and ultimately streamline and standardize the pre-operative patient care model. The expected outcomes are three-fold: (1) To reduce the number of resources utilized between CI referral and CI surgery – increasing provider time for other billable services, (2) To develop pre-operative educational resources designed to increase patient satisfaction and ease of pre-operative CI process, and (3) Assess current state pre-operative audiology testing at centers across the U.S.