Introduction to Clinical Work in Audiology

At the end of this course, students should be able to: 1. demonstrate ability in the application of clinical procedures of audiology such as: case-history taking for paediatric and adult patients, tinnitus and dizzy patients; 2. explain introduction of patient to the array of tests to be conducted; 3. explain what effective conduct of battery of tests means; 4. list out the process of earphone/bone vibrator placement on the patient and describe clearly the instructions on the test procedure to the patient; 5. describe step-by-step approach to conducting basic and advanced audiological tests; 6. explain clinical report writing procedure, referral procedure, guidelines on ward round, case presentation at grand rounds; 7. define what masking is and the process of carrying out masking procedure in audiological tests; 8. describe different types of audiograms, tympanograms and analyze OAE and ABR results and how to interpret or explain same to the patient; 9. apply appropriate audiometric/speech tests on children and adults respectively; 10. explain the diagnostic relationship that exist between pure tone audiogram and speech reception/recognition findings; 11. explain how speech test result can be used to determine site of lesion in hearing impairment and the choice of hearing aids for rehabilitation purposes; 12. describe the principle and practice of sedated and non-sedated auditory brain-stem investigations in comparison to subjective behavioural audiometry; 13. demonstrate respect for professional, ethical, cultural, equal opportunity and workplace health and safety issues; 14. demonstrate ability to solve typical problems encountered in the course of carrying out a test particularly on difficult patients; and 15. demonstrate ability to make presentations at grand round academic/clinical meetings.

Development of entry-level skills in patient/client management. Integration of academic knowledge with clinical decision-making and critical thinking skills. Students will be assigned to clinical settings appropriate with their knowledge base at that juncture of the programme. Clinical sites may include specialty areas such as pediatrics, geriatrics, rehabilitation centres, home care settings, hearing aid centres, special schools such as schools for the hearing impaired and many others. Student will be required to present a 20-minute case report concerning one relevant case for Clinical Audiology based on Clinical experience. Clinical Audiology students along with consultants in the faculty will participate in Grand Rounds. This experience will focus on exploring the expectations of Clinical Audiology students in a clinical setting. Issues related to the therapist- patient relationship and student-clinical instructor relationship will be discussed. Issues regarding professional behavior, dealing with clinical problems will be emphasised.