NCT03594500

Hearing Impairment, Strategies, and Outcomes in Emergency Departments

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 133 (actual)
• Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development · Federal
• Sex: All
• Age: 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Aim 1: Establish the feasibility of screening for hearing loss in the ED Aim 2: Determine the acceptability of the screening procedure (among the ED population) Aim 3: Derive a preliminary estimate of the effect size of primary outcomes Aim 4: Identify the evidence that decision makers in Veteran Affair Medical Centers, ED and Audiology Services need to commit to this approach

Detailed description

The goal of this study is to test whether providing hearing assistance devices to older age hearing impaired patients in the ED setting will improve in-ED understanding and preparation for discharge. The proposed intervention, the Hearing Impairment, Strategies and Outcomes in VA Emergency Departments (HearVA-ED) will be conducted in the Emergency Departments of the Manhattan and Brooklyn VAs of the New York Harbor Healthcare System and will recruit hearing impaired ED patients who are 60 years and older and have been admitted to the ED with a low acuity triage score indicating a high likelihood of discharge home. The investigators will identify hearing impairment by using the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly survey (HHIE-S). The investigators will randomize consenting patients who fail the screening to either receipt of a simple hearing assistance device (a "PockeTalkerTM") during their ED stay or usual care. The investigators will test whether the provision of a PockeTalkerTM is feasible in this environment (by measuring the amount of device use), whether providing the device improves self-reported quality of hearing and understanding during the ED stay, and whether use of the device improves the quality of preparation for post-discharge care. If this randomized controlled trial demonstrates beneficial effects for in-ED use of a simple hearing assistance device for hearing impaired patients, this strategy can be disseminated throughout the VA healthcare system.

Conditions

• Hearing Loss
• Emergency Service
• Hospital Readmission

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	PockeTalker	The intervention group will receive PockeTalkers (hearing assistance devices) while they receive care in the ED
OTHER	No PockeTalker	The control group will not receive PockeTalkers while they receive care in the ED

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-03-18
• Primary completion: 2019-11-26
• Completion: 2020-01-02
• First posted: 2018-07-20
• Last updated: 2025-11-05
• Results posted: 2021-06-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States