Tele Otology in India: Last 10 Years—A Scopic Review

Abstract

Hearing loss is the commonest sensory deficit among humans, affecting 466 million people worldwide. Early detection is the key to hearing rehabilitation, as speech and language develops early in the childhood. Scarcity of human resources and infrastructure in developing countries like India leads to difficulty in implementation of hearing screening programmes. Tele otology is very fruitful methodology in providing health care facility from distant site to the doorsteps of needy individuals. The action initiated in the field of tele otology in India was reviewed at electronic databases: Pubmed, Google scholar, Medline, Cochrane library, science direct and author mapper using the keywords ‘tele otology’ and ‘tele audiometry’ in January 2021. Eligible studies were those related to tele otology and tele audiometry in India. A total of 16 articles were shortlisted for the present study. Tele hearing testing was satisfactory for the parents in regard to accessibility, testing process and counselling. Tele audiometry surveillance shows better overall follow-up compliance rate then in-person audiological surveillance. During covid 19 pandemic virtual approach to the patient through video calling and telephone calls proved handy approach, ensuring safety profile of both health care professionals and patients. Even Tele ABR conducted in tele van shows similar results as in face-to-face mode ABR. Tele otology should be considered by the service providers and policy makers while planning for hearing screening programmes for both new-born and school going children in view of its reliability, low-cost, non-invasive and portability. The village health workers (VHWs) should be well trained in assisting tele practice and internet connectivity should be well established. Tele otology looks very promising in providing health services through the ever-expanding reach of global connectivity.

Barriers and Facilitators for the Use of Telehealth by Healthcare Providers (HCP) in India - A Scoping Review

“…Improvement in patient outcome (n=16)(74–78,81,82,85–87,89,91–94,96), improvement in knowledge of HCP (n=3)(76,85,89), and improvement in work performance (n=3)(76,85,92) were associated with the use of telemedicine. It also helped in reducing travel (n=4)(78,91,92,94) and when used for remote diagnosis, telemedicine showed no significant diagnostic difference when compared with conventional diagnostic modalities (n=3)(79,88,92). The other impacts are mentioned in Table 2 .…”

“…Twenty-one studies (84%) were quantitative (72–77,79–82,84–89,91,93–96), 2 (8%) were qualitative (78,83), 1 (4%) followed mixed methodology (90) and 1 (4%) was a review study. (92) No study on the use of telemedicine by human resources for health (HRH) was published before 2011. A majority (64%)(74–78,82,84–87,89,91–93,95,96) of the studies were published after 2017 with the maximum (n=5, 20%)(75,77,84,86,91) number of studies being published in 2020.…”

“…The availability of satellite connectivity (n=1)(88) was a technical facilitator that improved the uptake of telemedicine. Cost-effectiveness (n=7)(74,75,78,85,87,93,94), and ease of use of the intervention (n=1)(92) were the application-related facilitators. ( Fig 6 )…”

“…Poor network connectivity (n=8)(73,76,81,84,87,92,94,96), difficulty in understanding English, the language used in the application (n=5)(84,86,87,92,93), and difficulty in communicating while using telemedicine (n=6)(76,83,86,87,93,95) were the most common technical, application-related, and human resource-related barriers respectively. Lack of human touch (n=5)(77,80,83,91,95) and stigma related to technology (n=1)(94) also acted as barriers to the uptake of telemedicine.…”

Implementation components and factors that influence the provision of tele-audiology services for children and adults - a mixed-methods approach

“…Systematic and scoping reviews have reported studies in tele-audiology [6][7][8][9][10] . The primary goal of these reviews has been to analyse evidence regarding telepractice applications in terms of treatments offered for ear and hearing disorders, as well as details about patient-site facilitators.…”