Barriers and facilitators to tele-audiology service delivery in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic: perspectives of hearing healthcare clinicians

Abstract

Objective To explore the utilisation, safety, cost, and patient outcomes of delivering tele-audiology services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design A national cross-sectional self-report online survey asking participants to reflect on interactions with hearing services between April and October 2020. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The COM-B model of behaviour change guided survey creation and the presentation of a subset of the results. Study sample 249 Australia-based hearing healthcare clinicians (age range 23–74 years; 162 female). Results Clinicians reported an increase in the use of tele-audiology services, with key drivers relating to keeping their patients safe and keeping businesses running. Clinicians generally viewed the provision of tele-audiology services as successful and resulting in improved patient outcomes. Overall, clinicians were highly motivated to provide tele-audiology services, and they expressed being confident in their knowledge and understanding of tele-audiology service delivery. Barriers to providing tele-audiology services included concerns about the reliability of the results obtained from remote assessments, as well as concerns around information security and privacy issues. Conclusions Clinicians’ motivations to use tele-audiology services appeared to be driven by their desire to maintain COVID-safe practices during the pandemic and by the COVID-driven increase in availability of funding for tele-audiology services.