Organization of Ambulatory Telemonitoring of People With Hearing Loss and Having a Cochlear Implant.

The number of patients with cochlear implants increases every year, constituting an active queue increasingly important (60 new cases per year in Toulouse, active list in 2013: 380 adult patients). The number of approved cochlear implant centers is limited by guardianships, and corresponds to the Hospitals University. It is not possible to create networks of correspondents. Teams of implantation centers must meet the needs of new patients and ensure continuity of care for patients already implanted: speech therapy monitoring, adjustment and rehabilitation.

In case of malfunction of the implant, patients use in first-line reference center. The increasing number of patients leads to a lack of specialized teams that can not meet the demands of patients in a timely manner, while continuing to provide support for new patients. It is therefore necessary to find solutions to improve the service provided to patients who received a cochlear implant system to respond quickly and effectively to the request of troubled patients, while optimizing the workload of the teams . The introduction of a telemedicine platform is expected to achieve these goals, distinguishing minor malfunctions, not requiring a consultation in a center, and the most complex situations requiring consultation in a center.