An Independent Audiologists Australia (IAA) seminar in Melbourne in October will celebrate audiology as lifelong healthcare and examine the intersection between person-centred audiology and good business.
It will be the first live event that IAA has hosted post-COVID.
Audiology For Life! will be an in-person one-day event on 11 October 2024 at Melbourne Business School. Topics will include business ethics and value-adding, supervisory practice, consumer analysis of the Hearing Services Program, digital health, and person-centred hearing rehabilitation care.
Keynote speaker is physician and award-winning health journalist, commentator and broadcaster Dr Norman Swan, co-host of ABC radio national’s Health Report, What’s That Rash? and 7.30 reporter.
Other speakers include Professor Melinda Edwards, managing director of Ethics Advisory Services, who will explore why authentically engaging with ethical values equals ‘value squared’ for audiology businesses and how to go about it.
A former litigator and law professor, she teaches negotiation, leadership, ethics and business law in the QUT Graduate School of Business. Prof Edwards will discuss ESG, environmental, social and governance standards that measure a business’s impact on society, the environment, and how transparent and accountable this is.
“More than ever people are making decisions with their wallet about the types of companies they want to be involved with, and those organisations which align with the expectations of the community are at a competitive advantage,” Prof Edwards said.
“Research indicates that integrity – alignment between espoused values and actions –improves the bottom line, not only through risk reduction but also enhanced retention and attraction of talent, customer engagement and investor confidence in the current market.”
Benefits of supervisory practice
Dr Dunay Schmulian PhD, University of Queensland lecturer and director at Cotton Tree Audiology on the Sunshine Coast, will make the case for a re-imagined approach to supervisory practice and demonstrate how it may provide breakthroughs in challenging clinical situations. While supervisory practice is standard throughout the career of many allied health professions such as psychology, most audiologists do not engage in formal supervision beyond their clinical internship.
She said audiology for life played on the concept that audiology has a critical role to play across the lifespan of clients. “It also recognises the life-long investment and commitment by the audiologist to a career as a hearing healthcare specialist,” she said. “If you feel like you are doing time in the clinic, this talk may help revitalise your clinical practice and recapture the reasons why audiology was appealing in the first place.”
Ms Jane Lee, national manager of health programs at Deafness Forum Australia, will discuss a new report by the organisation which seeks to understand actions taken and identify gaps to drive improvements in the Australian Government’s Hearing Services Program and enhance hearing health outcomes for all who need it. By examining the program’s past, the report aims to reduce uncertainty about its present and envision its ideal future state, she said.
Dr Emma Laird PhD from the University of Melbourne will discuss digital health in the hearing care sector, and detail a recent human-centred design process shaping a digital hearing wellbeing platform, LuminEAR.
“The impacts of hearing loss extend far beyond the loss of an auditory signal, with people living with hearing loss reporting loneliness and social isolation, anxiety, self-stigma and depression,” she said.
“Studies suggest that hearing rehabilitation and the provision of hearing devices may improve psychosocial wellbeing but these effects are variable and typically small. Luminear successfully integrated feedback from a diverse co-design team, leading to significant improvements in content accessibility, user engagement and system usability.”
Dr Gerard William PhD, is a hearing impaired audiologist and academic, with a background in business studies before his journey into audiology. As founder and director of Hear With Me Audiology Care, an independent clinic committed to evidence-based practice and ethical service delivery, he will discuss his PhD research, establishing the evidence for person-centred care as both a gold standard clinical framework and a financially sound business model.
“Although the primary focus of all clinicians involved in hearing rehabilitation is to ensure the highest quality of patient care, it is important to recognise that this care is delivered through an organisation that must ultimately be sustainable,” he said. “From a business perspective, sustainability revolves around delivering care that meets the wants and needs of clients in a way that ensures the organisation’s ability to continuously provide services to future clients.”
IAA’s annual general meeting (for members only) will close the seminar, with a networking function for all delegates to follow.
Sponsors are Widex, Starkey, Phonak, Heidi Health, Audeara, Advanced Bionics, Oticon Medical and Natus.
Early bird registration ends tomorrow 15 August 2024. For more information and to register click here.
