Remote care of cochlear implant users

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Personalised Long-Term Follow-Up Of Cochlear Implant Patients Using Remote Care

• IRAS ID

  185061

• Contact name

  Helen Cullington

• Contact email

  hec@isvr.soton.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Southampton

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 8 months, 11 days

• Research summary

  Cochlear implants provide access to sound for severely to profoundly deaf people. Many resources are required to provide post-operative care to patients who receive a cochlear implant. The implant service commits to lifetime follow-up, which may be up to 100 years for a baby. The patient commits to regular adjustment and rehabilitation appointments in the first year and annual follow-up appointments thereafter. These services are provided at specialist tertiary centres which may be several hours away from the patient’s home necessitating travelling expense, time off work and family disruption. Currently UK implant centres review patients on a clinician-led schedule; this means that review appointments can occur that provide little benefit to the patient. Making this care pathway patient-centred instead will provide a more efficient service and allow more timely identification of issues.
  
  This project will design, implement and evaluate a person-centred long-term follow-up pathway for cochlear implant users offering a triple approach of remote and self-monitoring, self-adjustment of devices and a personalised online or smartphone intervention package (LifeGuide) for testing their own hearing at home, information, self-rehabilitation, advice, equipment training and troubleshooting. We will also design and validate a new measure of how empowered adult cochlear implant users are to take care of their own hearing needs. Remote care will take place in the patient’s home. This is making one change to the usual care of people with cochlear implants:
  1. moving the care from the clinic to the patient’s home
  
  

• REC name

  North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  15/NW/0860

• Date of REC Opinion

  28 Oct 2015

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion