What does a hearing instrument specialist do?
This is a common question not only in the consumer marketplace, but also on licensing boards and in regulatory entities. To formalize the answer for all, the IHS Board of Governors voted to adopt an official practice profile. This document would constitute a uniform, standardized description of services that would serve to fortify and strengthen the profession by virtue of its universal application. Very importantly, this comprehensive declaration of dispensing characteristics and expectations defines the unique role of the hearing instrument practitioner and distinguishes your profession from the other members of the hearing healthcare team.
After considerable research and review of draft proposals, the Board ultimately concluded that the best option for a dispensing practice profile was one already implemented by the National Board for Certification in Hearing Instrument Sciences (NBC-HIS).
Leading up to that decision, IHS President W. F. Samuel Hopmeier, BC-HIS, invited Laura Dennison, BC-HIS, CCCA, author of NBC-HIS’s practice profile, to chair the IHS Scope of Practice Committee. The committee’s mission was to evaluate the NBC-HIS profile relative to IHS specificity and suggest any changes they deemed necessary to better represent the IHS perspective. They recommended only minor rewrites, which were approved and incorporated into the final document.
Dennison points out that the practice profile was based on a Role Delineation Study commissioned by NBC-HIS “because that study was an accurate snapshot of the best practices of our profession both in this country and in Canada.” The format was reflective of similar profiles in other areas of the hearing healthcare field.
The NBC-HIS Role Delineation Study was written by Ayres D’Costa, PhD. He explains that the development of a professional practice profile is part of a systematic process that must be based on a legally-defensible job analysis. A series of Role Delineation Studies (1982, 1991, 2000) provide this basis.
“A role delineation goes beyond the typical job analysis in that it serves both to describe and differentiate the role,” he says. “Job description entails two aspects: what tasks are frequently performed by dispensers and what tasks are critical aspects of the professional competence of dispensers.” Dr. D’Costa feels the practice plan is a key step in establishing the profession’s identity and range of competence. “The document truly represents the hearing instrument dispensing profession, articulates and specifies its areas of safe, effective services and serves as a document that state governments and the public can recognize,” he says.
NBC-HIS Chair Wayne Jacobson is proud of NBC-HIS’s participation in the development of the practice profile and believes it will be an invaluable asset to the hearing profession. He credits it with summarizing and logically formatting what dispensers do so that when asked that question there is a complete and concise document to put forth. He states that the profile is written “in a broad, non-prejudicial form that avoids some of the ‘turf’ discussions from the past.”
Jacobson further comments that the profile will be useful in consumer education. “Professionally, we are maintaining and upgrading the standard to become Board Certified,” he says. “In today’s marketplace, more consumers are looking for the Board Certified designation when deciding where and how to get hearing help. Board Certification is an easily understood concept for the consumer and gives them one more benchmark to use in making a decision to improve their hearing and their life.”
In his dual role as IHS governor and chair of the International Institute for Hearing Instruments Studies, Jay McSpaden, PhD, BC-HIS, CCCA, has been involved in the profile adoption process from the very beginning. He asserts that one very significant purpose of the document is to facilitate the expectation and delivery of top quality care to the patient. “The profile establishes standards of work, counseling approaches to patients, interprofessional responsibilities and practice management procedures which ensure delivery of a high level of professional care,” he says.
President Hopmeier underscores this point. “With the adoption of this profile, we have a definitive statement that covers the scope and quality of our professional healthcare services. It’s a tremendous step forward in educating the consuming public and lawmakers alike about the integrity, credibility and competencies of hearing instrument dispensers.”
