The COVID-19 pandemic and upgrades of CI speech processors for children: part I-procedure of speech processor upgrade

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader The COVID-19 pandemic and upgrades of CI speech processors for children: part I-procedure of speech processor upgrade Via http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2022 Feb 26. doi: 10.1007/s00405-022-07278-x. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT PURPOSE: To demonstrate the feasibility of upgrading speech processors during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Adopting concepts from "lean thinking", we optimized hospital workflows to allow speech processors to be upgraded despite the obstacles arising from national guidelines for COVID-19 prevention. The study involved 297 children, aged from 7.3 to 18.0 years, whose processors were upgraded on five consecutive Saturdays during a time of peak COVID-19 in Poland. RESULTS: The optimized workflow allowed us to conduct speech processor upgrades during a time of peak COVID-19 in Poland. The upgrades were conducted as scheduled, patient flow was smooth, appropriate social distancing was kept, and no reports of COVID-19 infection in our patients in the 2 weeks after their visit were received. CONCLUSION: Upgrading of sp eech processors in children is still feasible under coronavirus conditions. PMID:35217905 | DOI:10.1007/s00405-022-07278-x View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.