Fauquier ENT now participates with Optima Health insurance with one caveat... We only participate with the PPO plan only.
For the full list of health insurance policies we participate with, click here.
Showing posts with label fauquier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fauquier. Show all posts
Monday, 4 April 2011
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Furthermore, we offer a comprehensive suite of other related services including non-sedated ABR (auditory brainstem response) hearing testing to specialized custom ear plugs for hunters and musicians.
We evaluate all different ages from 1 day old infants to the 99 year old hearing impaired patient.
The full list of Fauquier Hearing services we provide include:
Comprehensive Hearing & Audiometric Evaluations
- Hearing Testing from Birth to Adult
- Newborn Hearing Screening and Follow-up
- Otoacoustic Emmission Testing (OAE)
- Auditory Brainstem Response Testing (ABR)
- Tone Burst Auditory Brainstem Response (TB-ABR)
- Bone Conduction ABR Auditory Brainstem Response (BC-ABR)
- Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR)
- Electrocochleography (ECoG)
- Central Auditory Processing Evaluations (CAPD)
- Hearing Aid Evaluations and Consultation
- Hearing Aid Dispensing
- Advanced Digital and Wireless Hearing Aid Technology
- Aural Rehabilitation Counseling
- Hearing Aid Service and Repair
- Hearing Aid Accessories and Batteries
- Resources for Parents of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children
- Electronystagmography (ENG)
- Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials (VEMP) for Meniere's Disease
- Vestibular Rehabilitation Counseling
- Canalith Repositioning
- Custom Swim Plugs
- Custom Hearing Protection
- Musicians Filtered Earplugs
- Earplugs for Hunters
- Custom Earmolds for iPods, Cell phones, Headsets
- Assistive Listening Devices and Technology
For more information, please go to our webpage here.
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Read more about non-sedated ABR/OAE testing here.
Watch the video here.
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Indeed, amenities are a critical part of the patient experience and possibly even a more valuable component of patient-centered care as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. A patient’s nonclinical experience inspires clinical productivity, drives improved clinical outcomes, and improves overall patient satisfaction.
Not that such reports are a big surprise. It's something I think all major non-healthcare corporations have already realized for decades. Just walk into any Abercrombie & Fitch or Toyota car showroom. Such businesses hit all of our senses to the 10th degree... There's the visual stimulation of models (human or otherwise). Popular music playing in the background to stimulate the ears. Lovely perfume smells in a clothing store or fresh leather in a car showroom to stimulate the nose. And oh yes... freshly baked cookies or candies to bring some zing to the taste buds.
How can you NOT like what you see/hear/taste/smell??? And, buy some things along the way given you have been stimulated into such a good mood?
Indeed, it's surprising why hospitals weren't the FIRST institutions to maximize the senses to bring peace to mind/body/soul and... to also provide medical treatment.
SO... it is with great satisfaction that our practice is affiliated with a hospital that subscribes to the importance of these non-clinical factors. Fauquier Hospital has:
• Private patient hospital rooms
• Family and friends can drop by any time, day or middle of the night
• Food that's actually good
• Patient friendly architectural features including:
- built-in sleeping accommodations for family members
- carpeted corridors and additional windows
- lamps have replaced overhead lighting
- halls have been carpeted to keep down noise or are finished in faux wood for a warmer feel
- community artwork hangs on the walls
- barriers between patients and staff, such as those sliding-glass windows that close nurses off from patients and the public, have been removed
- elevators for patients and the public are separate
- no constant paging over the intercom system, either; instead, unobtrusive music plays all the time.
• Also, a culture fostering patient care is presented.
Come check out Fauquier Hospital here!
Read the NYT article here.
Read the New England Journal of Medicine Article here.
Saturday, 4 December 2010
For those not in the know, Groupon is a website that offers coupons and other savings on local merchandise and services. Groupon also has recently rejected a takeover bid by Google.
I recently encountered this amazing deal on Groupon offered by an ENT colleague, Dr. Ghaheri:
"$149 for Four Laser Hair-Removal Treatments at The Center for Aesthetic Medicine at The Oregon Clinic (Up to $1,000 Value)"
I wonder if such marketing and medical discount offerings like this will become the future. Clearly, procedures and other types of medical treatments that are not covered by insurance will be applicable.
For example... here are some medical treatments/services I am considering to discount on Groupon:
1) Injection snoreplasty for snoring
2) Botox injections for facial wrinkles
3) Hearing services and products including hearing aids
etc
Click here to check out Groupon and create an account!
Friday, 8 October 2010
A reader informed me that INOVA Health System has developed a free iPhone app called InovaER that provides wait times of all 9 emergency rooms within its health system throughout Northern Virginia. The app was released Aug 4, 2010.Pretty cool! Hopefully other hospital systems including Fauquier Hospital will join with other regional hospitals (Culpeper, Warren, Prince William, Haymarket) to create a similar program.
Download the app here.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Read other patient testimonies here.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
This fascinating iPhone app called EarTrumpet was developed in collaboration with the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at University of California Irvine. The app claims to convert your iPhone/iPod into a hearing aid of sorts (hearing enhancer app is the term they use) via headphones with a built-in microphone (the ear buds that come with the iPhone work just fine). In essence, the microphone will pick up the surrounding sound and the app will instantly amplify the sound and play it into the headphones. The degree of amplification is customizable via the app.
Hearing testing is also available.
As per the manufacturer website, the EarTrumpet features include
• use of the built-in microphone on the supplied iPhone ear buds
• allows the user to select which frequencies to boost.
• choose the left or right ear to amplify
• store custom profiles once balance and equalization settings have been selected
You can download the app here which sells for $1.99 (much less than traditional hearing aids which go for $1000 and higher). Watch the tutorial of how the app works below.
On a further note, EarTrumpet was created by Allen Foulad, a medical student.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
On June 9, 2009, Fauquier Hospital opened a wound center that included two hyperbaric oxygen chambers. Hyperbaric oxygen, also known as HBO, has a long and close-knit history with ENT.
What hyperbaric oxygen treatment does, in a nutshell, is provide higher concentrations of oxygen to the bloodstream which allows for faster healing of chronic wounds as well as treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning and "the bends" when SCUBA diving.
The higher concentrations of oxygen is achieved by increasing the surrounding pressure of the patient with higher oxygen concentrations... it is simply not good enough to provide oxygen... it needs to be administered at elevated pressures too.
In order to achieve elevated pressures, the patient needs to be completely enclosed inside an airtight chamber while they "pump" oxygen in. Here's a couple views of the HBO chamber used in the Fauquier Wound Center. And yes... that's a TV on top... a single treatment lasts a few hours!
As the pressure increases, the patient needs to "pop" their ears constantly, much like if you were flying up in an airplane or diving into deep water.
If a patient is unable to pop their ears easily, ENT can surgically place ear tubes so that the patient doesn't have to pop their ears... the tubes pop the ears for the patient automatically!
It is not unusual that I get "urgent" same-day consults for barotrauma sustained during a HBO dive. Ear tubes get placed and the patient is able to immediately resume HBO treatments without delay!
Check out the Fauquier Wound Center here.
What hyperbaric oxygen treatment does, in a nutshell, is provide higher concentrations of oxygen to the bloodstream which allows for faster healing of chronic wounds as well as treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning and "the bends" when SCUBA diving.
The higher concentrations of oxygen is achieved by increasing the surrounding pressure of the patient with higher oxygen concentrations... it is simply not good enough to provide oxygen... it needs to be administered at elevated pressures too.
In order to achieve elevated pressures, the patient needs to be completely enclosed inside an airtight chamber while they "pump" oxygen in. Here's a couple views of the HBO chamber used in the Fauquier Wound Center. And yes... that's a TV on top... a single treatment lasts a few hours!
As the pressure increases, the patient needs to "pop" their ears constantly, much like if you were flying up in an airplane or diving into deep water.
If a patient is unable to pop their ears easily, ENT can surgically place ear tubes so that the patient doesn't have to pop their ears... the tubes pop the ears for the patient automatically!
It is not unusual that I get "urgent" same-day consults for barotrauma sustained during a HBO dive. Ear tubes get placed and the patient is able to immediately resume HBO treatments without delay!
Check out the Fauquier Wound Center here.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
It was quite cool to see Fauquier Hospital's innovative VIPeds Medical Camp program featured on Channel 9 news. This unique hands-on program is for teenagers to learn more about the health profession and opportunities found inside a hospital.
Local teens learn to apply a cast, to harvest a cornea (I personally have no idea how to do that!), to suturing a wound closed. No ENT related procedures however...
Check out the video segment here.
Local teens learn to apply a cast, to harvest a cornea (I personally have no idea how to do that!), to suturing a wound closed. No ENT related procedures however...
Check out the video segment here.
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
The passenger claimed that the Qantas flight crew was negligent in failing to take precautions to protect passengers and that she had suffered permanent hearing loss as a result.
Of note, the patient already wore hearing aids due to hearing loss.
Though most reasonable folks would side with the airline in that: "Plaintiff's injuries, if any, were caused by the arbitrary and volitional act of a three-year-old child. Flight attendants cannot predict when children aboard an aircraft are about to scream. There is no evidence that the child was screaming in the terminal, or on board the aircraft prior to the particular scream which allegedly caused the damage."
However, the passenger does have the legitimate point that loud noises can cause hearing loss... even sudden hearing loss.
Of note... the case was settled out of court.
Read more here.
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Furthermore, if you need any CT scans, x-rays, bloodwork, MRI scans, etc, all these testings are also provided for free! If you need to see a specialist, such as ENT (or pulmonary, endocrine, rheumatology, ID, etc), clinic visits/appointments are also for free with a referral from the Free Clinic.
There's a catch...
To be a patient of the Fauquier Free Clinic, basic eligibility requirements must be met in order to receive free care. To be eligible, the patient must live in Fauquier or Rappahannock County, cannot have health insurance, and household income must be under specified limits.
For more information, go to their website here.
Read more about free clinics in the state of Virginia here.
Read a media report about free clinics in the US here.
Monday, 26 April 2010
As such, it's nice to review this rare condition that may lead to permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, ear fullness for which only hearing aids may help. Of course, one can suffer this sudden condition without taking such medications.
If you experience sudden hearing loss (whether taking ED medications or not), see your local ENT as soon as possible as there is a window of opportunity during which certain interventions may help reverse and restore your hearing back to normal! Such intervention include:
• High doses of prednisone
• Intratympanic steroid injection into the ear
• Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Here are some sources on ED medications and sudden hearing loss:
FDA Warning
CNN
Wall Street Journal
Click here to read more about sudden hearing loss.
Monday, 28 December 2009
CNN on Dec 28, 2009 published a story on tinnitus (ringing of the ears) highlighting Metallica drummer, Lars Ulrich. Mr. Ulrich has suffered from tinnitus due to loud noise exposure and started wearing hearing plugs whenever performing to minimize further damage to his ears.
"Ulrich said he is concerned about young people, the so-called iPod generation, who listen to loud music, and may not be as vigilant about protecting their ears. 'If you get a scratch on your nose, in a week that'll be gone,; Ulrich said. 'When you scratch your hearing or damage your hearing, it doesn't come back. I try to point out to younger kids ... once your hearing is gone, it's gone, and there's no real remedy.'"
Our office sells ear plugs for musicians as well as hearing aids and other assistive listening devices. We also provide hearing tests.
Read the story here.
Monday, 2 November 2009
USA Today on November 2, 2009 published a story entitled "Your Health: Hearing aid guide cuts through the noise" in which best practices for buying a hearing aid is discussed. For the story, Dr. Debara Tucci at Duke University Medical Center was interviewed.
The advice is summarized by an FDA online guide (at fda.gov, click on "medical devices," then "hearing aids") that includes suggestions on how to get your hearing evaluated, how to choose a device and how to get it properly adjusted.
Our practice provides the full spectrum of hearing aid evaluation as well as hearing aid dispensing services (selling, repair, accessories, etc).
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