Examination of effectiveness of a follow-up II facility in a newborn hearing screening program

Introduction:

Since 2014, demand for follow-up examinations of children from the newborn hearing screening program has been growing in the Clinic for phoniatrics and pediatric audiology (Marburg). Therefore, this follow-up II center underwent a reorganization to ensure the fulfillment of the Federal Joint Committee's resolution from 19.06.2008. The effectiveness of this reorganization was the subject of this study.

Methods:

In 2014 – 2016, 1150 newborns were examined.

Target parameters were the number of examined newborns, age (median) at the time points of the first visit to the clinic, diagnosis, and of therapy onset, number of visits till diagnosis as well as lost-to-follow-up rates.

Kruskal-Wallis H test was utilized to assess the age of the first visit and diagnosis. The influence of diagnosis type on the diagnosis age was examined by the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results:

In 2014 – 2016, the number of examined newborns rose from 358 to 465 (29.9%).

The age of the first visit sank from 7.4 to 5.0 weeks, diagnosis age from 8.1 to 5.4 (ps<.001). The number of visits remained stable: 1.2 – 1.3. Lost-to-follow-up rates decreased from 6.2% to 4.5%. Newborns without hearing disorders (91.1%) were diagnosed earlier than those with hearing disorders: 6.4 vs. 13.2 weeks (p<.001). The diagnosis age went down only in case of unimpaired children and those with one-sided hearing disorders. 48.4% of children with hearing disorders were diagnosed within 3 first months of life, 82.1% of them were given a therapy within 6 months.

Conclusions:

Due to the reorganization of consultation procedures, therapy onset could be provided within 16.4 weeks, in spite of the growing number of patients and constant number of employees. Thus, Federal Joint Committee's resolution from 19.06.2008 could be implemented.

Publication History

Publication Date:
18 April 2018 (online)