NAERUM, DENMARK — The Ida Institute launched an all-new eLearning platform for hearing care professionals and newly expanded Telecare tools for clients last week at the AudiologyNOW! convention in Indianapolis.
The new learning platform, Ida Learning Hall, offers “bite-size” learning modules that allows busy professionals to easily incorporate learning into their schedules. Two new Telecare tools now available on Ida’s online platform will support hearing care professionals in extending person-centered care beyond the clinic.
The Ida Learning Hall
The Ida Learning Hall was created to be a virtual meeting place where hearing care professionals can expand their knowledge about person-centered care.
“We have created a new universe that caters to the different learning needs of hearing care professionals. Learning should be easy and engaging, and we believe that the Ida Learning Hall does just that.”
–Lotte Bundesen, Managing Director of the Ida Institute
Users can go to the Ida Learning Hall to update their skills and also connect and interact with with dedicated online communities.
Beyond the bite-sized modules, the platform also offers longer modules where professionals can gain CEU credits.
Offering New Telecare Tools
While the concept of telehealth is nothing new, the interest in the audiology community has grown significantly in recent years. Major hearing aid manufacturers have taken note of this and some are offering telecare capabilities in their hearing aids.
Ida Telecare, first launched in 2016 due to growing demand, is a collection of online tools that allow hearing professionals to extend the reach of their care. The tools, which were developed through collaboration with academics and clinicians from around the world, help clients to manage hearing loss and prepare for appointments.
Ida has now expanded its collection of Telecare tools with two new resources:
The Dilemma Game helps people with hearing loss deal with difficult communication situations. By using real life examples, the tool helps stimulate the users’ thinking and encourages them to come up with their own strategies for managing challenging situations.
The Tinnitus Thermometer is a simple online tool that allows users to describe how they are experiencing tinnitus and to help them articulate their feelings about the condition. The tool complements a complete collection of online resources to support hearing care professionals working with tinnitus patients.
“The emergence of telehealth is the result of a rapidly growing on-demand culture affecting the hearing care sector today. We are developing our telehealth offering to enable hearing care professionals to embrace this trend and to enhance the quality of counseling by applying methods and tools based on person-centered care.” –Lise Lotte Bundesen
All the tools available in the Ida Telecare platform are said to be optimized for mobile phones and are completely free for hearing care professionals and patients.
