This week, hearing care professionals from all over Brazil gathered online at the 36th Encontro Internacional de Audiologia (EIA). At the conference, the Ida team was thrilled to launch the Inspired by Ida program to the Brazilian audience in collaboration with our partners at the Brazilian Academy of Audiology (ABA), the Brazilian Society of Speech-Language Pathology (SBFa), and the University of São Paulo, Bauru Campus.
As part of the launch, the Inspired by Ida training material has been made available in Portuguese. This opens the program to Brazilian hearing care professionals and millions of other native Portuguese speakers around the world, enabling them to join the global Inspired community and implement person-centered methods in their daily practice. We spoke with our partners from ABA and SBFa about the Inspired launch and about the potential for person-centered care (PCC) in the region.
Valid across disciplines and regions
When considering the relevance of PCC in Brazil, Ingrid Gielow, PhD, Vice President of SBFa, and Co-Founder and CEO at ProBrain, says, “Essentially, PCC is valid for all areas of speech therapy and audiology, not only here in Brazil but across the world. In the healthcare field, we all want to offer the best possible care to our patients. We may feel that we are person-centered already – but when we truly understand what PCC is, we realize that we still have many unexplored opportunities for evolving our relationships with patients and their families. I believe that PCC is necessary, not only in the therapist-patient relationship, but also for raising awareness in the training of health professionals and in the approach of the companies that offer products and solutions to the patients.”
ABA Board Members Adriane Teixeira, PhD, Professor at the Health and Human Communication Department, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, and Christiane Marques do Couto, PhD, Professor at School of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, agree, “In Brazil PCC can help professionals to improve their performance in the area of diagnosis and rehabilitation of communication, in audiology and in speech therapy. By having the right tools and methods available and understanding how to apply these, suitable alternatives can be used so that patients understand the rehabilitation process, effectively contributing to the achievement of goals.”
An ideal time to launch Inspired
Gielow says, “At the Brazilian Society of Speech Therapy and Audiology, we were already addressing the need to unite technology, communication, and humanization before the pandemic – in a concept we called Speech Therapy and Audiology 4.0. The pandemic forced us to accelerate this process, and with Inspired by Ida we will continue this journey towards accessible, democratic, and humane person-centered care. As such, the timing is ideal for launching the Inspired program in Brazil, because everybody is feeling the need of integrating technology and humanization, ensuring that the personal touch is still prevalent.”
Beatriz Mendes, member of the EIA organizing committee, agrees, “After a full year of improving technology and implementing online tools, it is essential to provide greater access for audiology professionals and students – and in that process to reinforce the importance of humanization in patient care. The Ida tools are accessible, and many have already been translated into Portuguese, which facilitates their use.”
Teixeira and Marques do Couto add: “Brazil is a very diverse country, and with the pandemic the differences have been even more accentuated. The Inspired for Ida program will allow easy access to helpful tools, providing professionals and academics with the necessary training so that PCC is known, understood, and used - in different work realities and with different patient profiles.”
No technology can replace human care
In contemplating the future of hearing healthcare in Brazil, Teixeira and Marques do Couto state, “With Covid, the auditory rehabilitation processes had to be reorganized, using remote access technologies. These should be continued and even expanded after the pandemic. Thus, the need to prepare professionals for PCC will be even greater, since the interaction between the patient, relatives, audiologists, and speech therapists is essential for adequate auditory rehabilitation.”
Gielow says: “I hope that digital technology and artificial intelligence will help facilitate precise assessment and therapeutic intervention. This will enable professionals to recommend the best strategies for developing each patient’s hearing skills, considering their individual possibilities and limitations. In line with the Inspired by Ida vision, I hope that therapists will follow recommendations and increasingly provide care that is centered on the person and their goals, needs, dreams, and hopes – because no technology can replace human care.”
At the Ida Institute, we are excited to be welcoming Brazilian hearing care professionals to the Inspired by Ida program and we look forward to growing the implementation of PCC together. A big thank you to our partners at the University of São Paulo, Bauru Campus for translating the Inspired courses into Portuguese.