Follow-Up Care for Pediatric Hearing Aid Users at an Audiology Clinic in Malawi

Abstract

Purpose Hearing loss can have a negative impact on a child's development. Hearing aids, if fitted appropriately, maintained well, and used regularly, can offer benefit to children with hearing loss. Regular reviews of hearing aid users can help to monitor a child's progress and provide timely intervention when problems arise or needs change. This study investigates the follow-up care received by children fitted with hearing aids at a clinic in Malawi. Method A clinical audit was done of the frequency of face-to-face follow-up appointments, following which all pediatric hearing aid users who had not recently received follow-up care were called to invite them for a review, and then a re-audit was conducted. Results Of the 47 children in the audit, 46 had not had a recent face-to-face follow-up appointment. Strenuous efforts were made to call those 46 children to the clinic for review: 20 caregivers agreed to bring their child for review, 10 of whom attended. It was not possible to contact 24 caregivers. Conclusions Reasons for low attendance for review at this service are not known, but may be related to the financial circumstances of the patients' families as well as difficulty in maintaining contact with families. It has not yet been possible to establish a system for routine follow-up care for pediatric hearing aid users at this well-established clinic in a low-income country.