Faculty and students from the University’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA) attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Audiology (PAA) Conference recently in Lancaster, Pa., with a clinical preceptor bringing home a major recognition.
Jim Zeigler, AuD, a clinical preceptor for OCA students in externship rotations, was recognized with the George S. Osborne Honors Award. The award, named for the founder of OCA, is presented to an outstanding Pennsylvania audiologist and advocate for the profession. Last year’s recipient was also part of the Salus community; Sherman G. Lord, AuD ’09, was honored with the 2016 award.
Dr. Zeigler is a co-owner of Family Hearing Center, which has two locations in far Northeastern Pennsylvania. A former board of directors’ member for the PAA from 2001 through 2009, he also served as the organization’s president in 2008. He had two, four-year terms on the Pennsylvania Department of Health Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory Committee, where he also sat as chair from 2009 through 2014.
Victor Bray, PhD, OCA associate professor, presented the keynote speech. Entitled, “Co-Managing Co-Morbidities in Audiologic Medicine,” his presentation explained how audiologists can properly identify, refer, communicate and co-manage patient treatment plans with other healthcare providers.
“Approximately one in two audiology patients will present themselves with comorbid conditions requiring medical management that may be beyond the knowledge, skills and scope of practice of the typical audiologist,” he said. “Audiologists, as part of the medical-management team, must identify these comorbid conditions, understand the comorbid impact on the audiology patient, and appropriately refer these patients for co-management of the comorbid conditions [to other practitioner].”
Jonette Owen, AuD, assistant dean of Practice and Assessment of Audiologic Medicine, presented about the challenges of transitioning from an audiology student to a practicing professional. The Salus team also proved their trivia knowledge in the PAA’s Trivia Bowl, hosted during a special cocktail reception. Beating more than 10 other teams, the OCA team took home the top spot.
