Endoscopic dewaxing in the audiology department--the Bristol experience.

Impacted wax accounts for a considerable proportion of cancelled appointments in the audiology department. Current practice usually involves the patient being referred back to their General Practitioner (GP) for wax removal. Endoscopic dewaxing is a technique that can be used to remove wax under direct vision. Having been trained in the technique, an audiologist successfully removed wax from 94% of the patients seen with wax preventing the appointment from going ahead. Thirty-three appointments and 29 h (1740 min) of appointment time were saved over the 6-week period. When introduced with sufficient training of staff, endoscopic dewaxing offers a solution to the problem of impacted wax in the audiology department.