What is patient-centered care?

Patient-centered care aims to treat each patient as a person with unique needs and experiences, rather than a collection of statistics.

In audiology, patient-centered care means a comprehensive approach that considers the patient’s lived experience and real-world challenges that arise outside of the clinic.

Phone challenges

Phone calls can be particularly challenging, even with hearing aids, because they compound several problems:

• No visual cues
• Compressed audio
• Accents and background noise
• Automated systems

Additionally, many patients may not mention these struggles unless asked.

The audiologist's role

As an audiologist, you play an important role in helping patients address communication challenges both inside and outside the clinic.

Discussing how patients manage phone conversations can help identify unmet needs and opportunities to support their overall communication experience.

How captioning fits in

Call captioning can help address common hearing challenges that phone calls present — background noise, audio compression, and a lack of visual cues.

Captioned telephone services are available for individuals with hearing loss who need captions to use the phone effectively.

For individuals who qualify, captioned telephone services may provide an additional tool to support communication over the phone.

Captioned telephone solutions are designed to be familiar and easy to use for individuals who are comfortable with standard telephones.

Asking your patients about their experiences with phone calls shows a patient-centered approach and helps ensure their needs are fully considered.

For patients who qualify, CaptionCall may serve as a supplement to traditional hearing aids by:

• Improve patient satisfaction
• Increase their independence
• Reinforce the success of traditional hearing aids.

A new age of “comprehensive care”

When taking a patient-centered approach, care doesn’t end at the clinic door.

When evaluating patient needs, it is important to consider all communication environments — including phone calls.

Interested in learning more about call captioning? Learn more about becoming a CaptionCall provider.