Paediatric Audiologist, Audiology Department, Counties Manukau DHB, 901 Great South Road, Manukau City Centre, Auckland, New Zealand.
Clinical Team Leader, Audiology Department, Counties Manukau DHB, 901 Great South Road, Manukau City Centre, Auckland, New Zealand.
N Z Med J. 2022 Apr 14;135(1553):72-82.
To investigate the impact of clinician-led telephone consultation during the New Zealand COVID-19 lockdown on subsequent appointment attendance in a paediatric audiology service, particularly for Māori and Pacific families.
A retrospective clinical audit at Counties Manukau Health of all children (>3 years old) on the audiology waiting list. Binary logistic regression analysis tested for association of appointment attendance following attempted audiologist-led telephone consultation, with ethnicity, waiting times, socio-economic deprivation levels and telephone consultation contact.
Of 349 eligible children, 208 families participated in telephone consultations (59%). Ten percent of those contacted were able to be discharged as no longer requiring care. There were no differences in attendance rates between those who had participated in telephone consultation and those who had not (77.5% versus 77.8%). Pacific and Māori children were 68% and 64% less likely to attend appointments after adjusting for socio-economic deprivation level, waiting time and telephone consultation compared to NZ European children. Longer waiting times were significantly associated with decreased attendance rates.
Attendance was found to be associated with ethnicity and waiting times. Telephone consultation did not improve attendance rates overall nor for ethnicity subgroups. It is therefore concluded that telephone consultation was found to be of only limited benefit in paediatric audiology services.
调查新西兰新冠疫情封锁期间临床医生主导的电话咨询对小儿听力学服务后续预约就诊的影响，特别是对毛利人和太平洋岛裔家庭的影响。
对 Counties Manukau Health 的所有（>3 岁）听力学候补名单中的儿童进行回顾性临床审计。采用二元逻辑回归分析，检验预约就诊与听力学家主导的电话咨询、种族、等候时间、社会经济剥夺程度和电话咨询联系之间的关联。
在 349 名符合条件的儿童中，有 208 个家庭（59%）参与了电话咨询。有 10%的联系对象可以出院，不再需要治疗。参加电话咨询和未参加电话咨询的儿童就诊率没有差异（77.5%比 77.8%）。在调整社会经济剥夺程度、等候时间和电话咨询后，太平洋岛裔和毛利裔儿童的就诊率比新西兰欧洲裔儿童分别低 68%和 64%。较长的等候时间与就诊率下降显著相关。
就诊率与种族和等候时间有关。电话咨询并未整体提高就诊率，也未改善种族亚组的就诊率。因此，结论是电话咨询对小儿听力学服务仅具有有限的益处。
