Ever wonder why you chose audiology as a profession?

So…for me was it a good idea to become an audiologist? Well I would never know what life would have looked like if I had chosen another profession. It is a “sliding doors” kind of story. Do you know that movie? Not likely, it was released in 1998, most of you were still watching “Sesame Street” at that time. Anyway, the plot is simple but compelling –  The film alternates between two parallel universes, based on the two paths the central character’s life could take depending on whether or not she catches a train, and resulting in dramatically different outcomes in her life (basically in one scenario she catches her husband cheating on her, in the other she doesn’t). The film is so powerful because this is the story of our lives, sometimes the decisive moment is seconds long, like in this movie, sometimes more weighty things decide where our train is going.

So what do I think today of the decision to become an audiologist?  As it turned out, it was a great decision. Audiology has given me huge opportunities.

I don’t know much about the statistics, but the likelihood is high that a key attraction of our profession is the human element, the ability to make a difference in people’s lives. Interestingly, we seem to spend a lot of time on technology and not much time on improving our human interaction skills.

At Phonak, we believe strongly that a successful patient journey and a satisfying audiological career must include skills other than technical ones. It is for this reason that we have launched the Family Centered Care initiative.

In the spirit of working from an evidence base, we are very lucky to have been able to connect with the best scientific and clinical experts in the field under the leadership of Professor Louise Hickson from the University of Queensland in Australia. We are also very fortunate to have many experts within our organization. Together we aim to encourage clinicians  around the world to implement Family-Centered-Care in their daily practice.

Find out more what Family-Centered-Care is about and how easy it is to apply it: Phonak position statement.