Perceptions of Health Care Provider Interactions Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Hearing Trouble and the Role of an Accompanying Companion

Purpose: Hearing trouble (HT) impairs communication with health care providers (HCPs) and may lead to negative care experiences that impact health outcomes. The current study aimed to examine how HT influences patient perceptions of provider interactions and whether having an accompanying companion during health care visits modifies perceptions of provider interactions. Method: This cross-sectional study analyzed 9,104 responses from the 2016 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. Results: Compared to beneficiaries without HT, those with HT had greater odds of negative perceptions of HCP interactions. Beneficiaries with HT had greater odds of disagreeing with positive statements about care, including provider competence, provider cares to check everything, provider response, and provider rarely in a hurry. Having an accompanying companion during health care visits was not found to significantly modify perceptions of interactions. Conclusion: Findings suggest HT is a modifiable factor impacting health care communication. Implementing simple accommodation strategies in clinical practice can improve nursing care for older adults with HT. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, xx(xx), xx–xx.]
Hearing trouble (HT) is the third most common chronic health condition among Americans (Blackwell et al., 2014) with two of every three adults aged >70 years developing clinically significant hearing [...]