For the 5,000 plus surgeries that use the EMIS clinical system, access to SignTranslate will be instant via an embedded link from the EMIS desktop. Non-EMIS practices can access the service by logging on to the

. The program translates over 300 medical questions into British Sign Language (BSL) using short video clips – offering a quick and easy way to improve communication during a GP consultation.

In addition to the translation of the pre-defined questions, the SignTranslate program also enables on-line access to “live” fully qualified BSL interpreters for a small fee. Via a web-cam, a Deaf patient can enjoy a fully interactive discussion with their doctor through the interpreter.*
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Steve Powell, Chief Executive of SignHealth, said: “With only about 400 fully qualified interpreters in England to support approximately 70,000 Deaf people who use BSL as their first language, it can be a real challenge arranging a supported doctor’s appointment. By funding SignTranslate to be free for every GP in England, we hope that every Deaf person will be able to see their doctor when necessary.”

As well as BSL, SignTranslate gives spoken and written translations into 12 foreign languages. It is the only internet based translation tool of its kind in the UK.

*Note: the ‘live’ online interpreter service is not part of the one-year free offer and is charged at a rate of £2.50 a minute.

1. To see a demonstration of SignTranslate  If you would like a DVD copy of SignTranslate in action, please contact one of the above.

2. Please note; it is the convention adopted within the Deaf community of using an upper case D when referring to those who identify themselves culturally and linguistically as members of the Deaf community. Typically they are pre lingually deaf and use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language

3. SignHealth is the only UK charity focussed on improving the mental and physical health of Deaf people. SignHealth already has a track record of delivering change in care and treatment and in providing supported living, advocacy, outreach, counselling and health promotion, all within a BSL supported environment. Projects are located in London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. SignHealth also works with service providers to improve health services for Deaf people and with other health and Deaf charities to provide health information and education. Pending a funding application to the Big Lottery, SignHealth, in partnership with Deaf organisations across the UK, will launch the largest survey of the health of Deaf people in the UK later this year.
4. SignTranslate is wholly owned by SignHealth, the healthcare charity for Deaf people. SignTranslate provides unique web-based translation programmes for use with Deaf and hard of hearing people and those with limited English. SignTranslate also offers on-line interpreting for Deaf people via a simple web-cam. All interpreters are fully qualified and registered and follow a strict code of practice. Unlike other on-line interpreting service providers, SignTranslate does not require the purchase of specialist software. Just a PC with a broadband connection and a simple web-cam is all that’s needed. The product is already being used in a small number of GP practices and PCTs in England. SignTranslate is working to ensure that all paying customers also receive the benefit of the one-year free trial.

5. EMIS is the UK’s leading supplier of IT systems to GPs, providing the software that holds the medical records for 39 million NHS patients nationwide. Around 56 per cent of GPs in the UK currently use EMIS software. A link to the SignTranslate website has been embedded in the EMIS LV system and SignTranslate will soon be available for EMIS PCS systems. http://www.liveonnetwork.com
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“Unfortunately, many people feel the need to manually remove earwax, called cerumen, which serves an important protective function for the ear,” said the guidelines’ lead author, Dr. Peter Roland, chairman of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “Cotton swabs and some other home remedies can push cerumen further into the canal, potentially foiling the natural removal process and instead cause build-up, known as impaction.”
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The guidelines recommend professionals use wax-dissolving agents, irrigation or ear syringing, or manually remove it with a suction device or other specialty instrument under supervised care to avoid damaging the ear or further impaction. The guidelines warn against using cotton-tipped swabs, and the home use of oral jet irrigators.

In addition, people with hearing aids should be checked for impaction during regular check-ups because cerumen can cause feedback, reduced sound intensity or damage the hearing aid, according to the guidelines.

The guidelines were created with input from family practitioners, pediatricians, internists, nurses, audiologists and emergency room doctors and have been endorsed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.

There are no proven methods for avoiding impaction, according to the analysis, so when should you seek out a professional?

“When cerumen builds to the point of causing symptoms such as pain, ringing, itching or hearing problems, it’s a sign you should see a physician,” said Dr. Roland, who also serves as chief of pediatric otology at Children’s Medical Center Dallas.
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The problem affects one in 10 children, one in 20 adults, and greater than one-third of the elderly and cognitively impaired, according to the academy. About 12 million people annually seek treatment for impacted or excessive cerumen, resulting in nearly 8 million cerumen removal procedures by health care professionals.

“Earwax” is not actually wax, but a water-soluble mixture of secretions produced in the outer third of the ear canal, along with hair and dead skin.

The mixture serves a critical protective function for the ear and shouldn’t be removed unless it’s causing symptoms or interfering with assessments of the ear, said Dr. Roland, who heads to Clinical Center for Auditory, Vestibular and Facial Nerve Disorders at UT Southwestern.

“The complications from cerumen impaction can be painful and include infections and hearing loss,” Dr. Roland said. “It is hoped that these guidelines will give clinicians the tools they need to spot an issue early and avoid serious outcomes.”

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“Unfortunately, many people feel the need to manually remove earwax, called cerumen, which serves an important protective function for the ear,” said the guidelines’ lead author, Dr. Peter Roland, chairman of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “Cotton swabs and some other home remedies can push cerumen further into the canal, potentially foiling the natural removal process and instead cause build-up, known as impaction.”

The guidelines recommend professionals use wax-dissolving agents, irrigation or ear syringing, or manually remove it with a suction device or other specialty instrument under supervised care to avoid damaging the ear or further impaction. The guidelines warn against using cotton-tipped swabs, and the home use of oral jet irrigators.

In addition, people with hearing aids should be checked for impaction during regular check-ups because cerumen can cause feedback, reduced sound intensity or damage the hearing aid, according to the guidelines.

The guidelines were created with input from family practitioners, pediatricians, internists, nurses, audiologists and emergency room doctors and have been endorsed by the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.

There are no proven methods for avoiding impaction, according to the analysis, so when should you seek out a professional?
http://www.liveonnetwork.com
http://www.homehealthcareclassifieds.com

“When cerumen builds to the point of causing symptoms such as pain, ringing, itching or hearing problems, it’s a sign you should see a physician,” said Dr. Roland, who also serves as chief of pediatric otology at Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

The problem affects one in 10 children, one in 20 adults, and greater than one-third of the elderly and cognitively impaired, according to the academy. About 12 million people annually seek treatment for impacted or excessive cerumen, resulting in nearly 8 million cerumen removal procedures by health care professionals.

“Earwax” is not actually wax, but a water-soluble mixture of secretions produced in the outer third of the ear canal, along with hair and dead skin.

The mixture serves a critical protective function for the ear and shouldn’t be removed unless it’s causing symptoms or interfering with assessments of the ear, said Dr. Roland, who heads to Clinical Center for Auditory, Vestibular and Facial Nerve Disorders at UT Southwestern.

“The complications from cerumen impaction can be painful and include infections and hearing loss,” Dr. Roland said. “It is hoped that these guidelines will give clinicians the tools they need to spot an issue early and avoid serious outcomes.”

The guidelines appear in a supplement to the September issue of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. They will also be presented at the academy’s September meeting in Chicago.

The new guidelines are based on extensive reviews of scientific studies for a wide range of health care professionals from family doctors and pediatricians, to ear, nose and throat specialists (otolaryngologists).

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Professor Jerry  and Susanna Love Callaway, a lifelong education alumna and international student from Denmark, published their study on over-the-counter hearing aids in a recent issue of the

Through her work as a student in Punch’s two online courses, Callaway began to wonder about the high cost variability of hearing aids and asked Punch to advise her on a potential project. Specifically, do hearing aids have to be expensive to work from a purely technical standpoint? Punch and Callaway set out to find the answer by subjecting 11 over-the-counter hearing aids to the same test protocol as traditional hearing aids.
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Most consumers do not have or have only partial insurance coverage for hearing aids, leading to out-of-pocket expenses ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Low-cost options are typically marketed on the Internet and in mail-order magazines as listening devices – often for bird watchers or deer hunters.

“These low-cost amplifying devices can look tempting to individuals with hearing impairment because of the significant cost differences,” Punch said. “But our research found that the low-cost aids generally don’t meet the fitting requirements to help a hearing-impaired person and could potentially damage a person’s hearing.”

The research is important to consumers, Callaway said. “Aside from being of extremely poor quality, very low-cost hearing aids – those under $100 – have the potential to damage your hearing because they send very loud sounds into the ear. The study’s mid-range hearing aids ($100-500) were of higher quality and were not considered a safety hazard.”

The authors state in their article that aids costing $100 to $500 often control the amount of sound sent into the ear better, but without a precise and knowledge-based fitting of the device by an audiologist, consumers can expect to experience hit-or-miss success, Punch said. “Based on the research, the best advice for consumers is to talk to an audiologist. Because hearing aids have complex technical features, they need to be fitted and customized to the individual.”

The study measured how well the electronic features of the devices could compensate for commonly occurring types of hearing loss, employing methods that audiologists use to fit conventional hearing aids – a process audiologists call prescriptive fitting. Specifically, the researchers found that only a few of the aids they studied met the basic fitting requirements, and, for the few that did, that was true only for a specific degree of hearing loss.

“Currently, more than 32 million people have a hearing impairment, yet only about 25 percent of those use hearing aids,” Punch said. “Meanwhile, the aging population is growing – and hearing loss becomes more common as we become older.”

Although the Food and Drug Administration officially regulates hearing aids, those regulations are not enforced for low-cost amplifying devices that are sold through mail order and on the Internet, Punch said. He thinks that people with hearing loss should have more information about these devices.

The research was funded by the Oticon Foundation, and equipment was provided by Frye Electronics of Oregon for the duration of study.

Callaway is first author on the paper, which was part of her master’s thesis for her degree in audiology at the University of Copenhagen. She is currently completing the requirements for a doctorate degree at Western Michigan University.
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“Ear, nose, and throat health problems are among the most common medical conditions that children face,” says Jay Youngerman, MD, chief of the Division of Otolaryngology at North Shore Hospital at Plainview in New York. “So in addition to the standard back-to-school physical, parents should also consider whether or not their child would also benefit from seeing an otolaryngologist for additional evaluation.”
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Dr. Youngerman cites the following common ENT health concerns in the back-to-school season:

1. Hearing Loss – Hearing difficulty or loss can greatly impact children’s performance in school and their ability to interact with peers, and is increasingly a risk because of the popularity of mp3 players. Most children have their hearing evaluated after birth or in the first few years to determine any congenital conditions. However, as hearing loss is also caused by things like infections, trauma, and damaging noise levels, the problem may not emerge until later in childhood. Monitoring a child’s hearing ability on a consistent basis can help a parent take action early if an issue should arise.

2. Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea and other Childhood Sleep Disorders – Obstructive sleep apnea, also known as sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is not uncommon in children, but can have a profound impact on their educational experience by causing daytime sleepiness, aggravating attention deficit disorder, and other behavioral issues, along with bed-wetting and slowed growth. The number one indicator of SDB is restless sleep and labored breathing. This includes loud snoring that occurs every night, regardless of sleep position; snoring is then followed by a complete or partial obstruction of breathing, with gasping and snorting noises.

3. Facial Sports Injuries – Many children begin the fall with a variety of team and individual sports programs. These activities are great exercise for kids, but they can result in a variety of injuries to the face, including broken noses and facial abrasions. Many injuries are preventable by wearing the proper protective gear. Check with your child’s coach to make sure he/she has and is wearing all the necessary protective equipment. Also check with the coach after each practice to see if your child sustained any injuries while playing.

Dr. Youngerman says, “Other common issues like chronic allergies and sinusitis can also make a big impact on back-to-school success. Knowing the signs and symptoms will help a parent take quick action should an ENT health issue arise.”

For more information on children’s ear, nose, and throat health, including a detailed Q & A with Dr. Youngerman and a tip sheet for getting the most out of your child’s doctor’s appointment, or to find an ENT physician in your area, visit the AAO-HNS website at http://www.entnet.org.

About the AAO-HNS

The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, one of the oldest medical associations in the nation, represents more than 12,000 physicians and allied health professionals who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the ears, nose, throat, and related structures of the head and neck. The Academy serves its members by facilitating the advancement of the science and art of medicine related to otolaryngology and by representing the specialty in governmental and socioeconomic issues. The organization’s mission: “Working for the Best Ear, Nose, and Throat Care.” Home health care products , Baby boomers products , Menopause products , Neck pillows , Orthopedics , Mobility aids , Alzheimer’s aids , Arthritis aids , First aid kits , Survival kits