Surgery: Intra and Post Operative Care

Recommendation

This area is well served by existing guidelines. The CI Task Force reviewed the following existing guidelines (all linked).

1. The German Weißbuch (white paper) guidelines make recommendations for adult examinations and preoperative measures. Section 6.1 Page 12

2. The German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery under the guidance of the Working Group of German-speaking Audiologists, Neurootologists and Otologists (ADANO) made recommendations. Section 6. Indications for surgery page 25. Section 8. Surgical phase page 33

3. The American Academy of Audiology (AAA) CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINE: COCHLEAR IMPLANTS states that although the surgical procedure is not within the purview of the audiologist, there are a number of issues surrounding surgery of which the audiologist needs to be aware. Knowledge of the procedure will allow the audiologist to guide the patient through the process and understand when to refer concerns to the surgeon. The overriding issue is the communication between the surgeon and the audiologist. This communication is critical pre-operatively when the patient asks the audiologist questions regarding surgical procedure, intra-operatively during device monitoring, and post-operatively as the patient is seen for device programming. This section will focus on the aspects of the surgical procedure where the audiologist will have an active role.

SURGICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE AUDIOLOGIST page 42 Objective; American Academy of Audiology (AAA) CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINE: COCHLEAR IMPLANTS Recommendations for a Cochlear Implant Evaluation page 28