Advice Before Buying Hearing Aid, FDA Advises

MedlinePlus: Trusted Health Information for You <- click here

Professional needs to assess ear health, agency says

Noise Update

Noise Update (Click here)
More information on noise pollution & prevention.
Interesting statistics & the concept of CAP.

Noise induced hearing loss -my article in Deccan Herald 18th November 2013

Cochlear Implants:benefits & how it differs from hearing aids

This amateur video is recorded in my office by a student learning communication.I thank her for helping me to create awareness.Dr Sheelu Srinivas

Ayudh Pooja: Significance for a surgeon and workplace

Surgery is an important event in a patient's life.As a surgeon,I not only have the important task of selecting the right patient,explaining to the patients the risks & complications of surgery but also to impress upon them the need of post operative care.There are lots of guidelines & evidence based indications to decide for a surgery.We provide detailed information for the patient & family what to expect during surgery.Lets go through the journey of undergoing surgery in a hospital briefly..

Let me share a prayer to impress upon readers the trust the patients put into the surgeons while going through an operation...

Prayer Before Surgery

"Loving Father, I entrust myself to your care this day; guide with wisdom and skill the minds and hands of the medical people who minister in your Name, and grant that every cause of illness be removed, I may be restored to soundness of health and learn to live in more perfect harmony with you and with those around me. Through Jesus Christ. Amen." 

On the day of surgery,we meet the patient & family before taking them to the operation theatre. Post operative pain care is very important along with dressings & other medications.There is also special dietary need in every patient.I give a detailed description of how the surgery went to the patient & family.

However sometimes while doing all the above ,we may miss to impress the need of regular post operative follow up.If the patient does not stay local,it should be organised where he stays or call patient at appropriate intervals.

In ENT,there are some surgeries like tonsillectomy,myringoplasty where just a couple of out patient follow ups are fine.However most of other operations like mastoid surgery,nasal surgeries like endoscopic sinus surgery need further attention.

Lets talk about simple surgery like Septoplasty. Usually it does not need follow up of months but first few weeks are important.Post operative nasal suctions are necessary for healing.It prevents adhesions & infections.Nasal douchings or cleaning is also explained to patients.

Another nasal surgery like endoscopic sinus surgery may need longer follow up.Especially if its done for nasal polyposis,patient may need long term nasal treatments also.Thus the indication for surgery also decides the follow up post operative.Its the same for mastoid surgeries.Post operative cavity care should be stressed upon.

Surgeries like Cochlear Implantation are life long commitments for the reasons that its a new technology & complicated procedure.The importance of auditory verbal therapy I have stressed upon in a previous blog.

The success of surgery & appropriate healing not only depends on the operation itself but also on post operative care.

We do our best with all the wisdom & knowledge & pray to Almighty to skill our hands & minds.

Sharing the picture of Ayudha Puja in our department.Similar prayers are offered in the operation theatres where we express our gratitude to God for granting us the tools to fulfill our duties.

"Be it the plough, be it a vegetable cutter or be it Soorya Kiran Air Craft, the Ayudha Puja is a worship of whatever implements one may use in day-to-day life.If one can make a conscious effort to see the divine in the tools and objects one uses each day, it will help one to see one’s work as an offering to God.""

Patient Expectations & Exceeding them!

After completing medical school,we gain knowledge to treat a patient & bedside manners.However there is no training about " the customer" approach to a patient & keeping up to their expectations.

Especially if working in the private sector (though scenario is changing in government sector too!)-patients are customers & the provision of medical service will succeed if delivering the desired customers.

What I write next is my personal opinion after working in private sector for 7 years in a city where most of my patients are internet savvy & have presented to me after goggling their symptoms!Before this I was in government sector in India & NHS in the UK for 10 years & did not really have to consciously behave in a certain way with patients!

Like it or not ...we have to accept the trend & change accordingly !

Patients present to us with an expectation & act accordingly.We as professionals deliver not only clinical quality but also have to satisfy their implied wishes.It took me some time to understand this.

While I listen to a patient's story & examine him-I may come to a conclusion.However if I look busy or am in a hurry- patient most of the time may doubt my conclusion or may feel that I am not paying attention.

Here comes the difference.."Doctors and patients have very different optical regarding quality". 

The patient assesses the technical quality of medical care indirectly by evidence of the interest and concern of professionals with their health and well being. Such evidence is perceived through empathy.

In this context, it is understood that quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a service that affects its ability to satisfy stated or implied wishes.A high satisfaction with the medical service provided leads to a high level of customer loyalty.

Therefore, we understand that customer satisfaction is both a goal and a marketing tool. Thus Medicine and Marketing concepts have common and can share tools and objectives, favoring the doctor-patient relationship and promoting quality health care in our society.

I just want to end by an old saying in medicine(after all the fuss written above)

First..Do No Harm....

Understanding Cochlear Implant benefits

In the out patient clinic,I try to spend time with a family to explain them about the candidacy & outcomes of cochlear implants.
However this article from ASHA summarizes the facts so well & I thought I should share it for everyone's benefit.

It highlights the changes in candidacy  over last 2 decades & how over time we are able to understand the speech benefits or limitations of a cochlear implant.

There is so much still to know why the outcomes are variable & researchers working to standardize them.

Just click on the title above -it takes you to the article.

http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/treatment/mind_hears.htm