Making A Difference

What impact or fingerprint have you made on those you would like to reach? A big question, but that was on my mind when I left Tampa, Florida a month ago. In my bag, I had 10 days of exciting fieldwork where I had been exploring patient-centered care through more than 30 filmed appointments.

My point is that you, as an audiologist, certainly have an impact – it might be significant or less so, but there is no guaranty that you will be remembered for it! The same holds true with the work of the Ida Institute.

Did you know that my ancient countrymen, the Danish Vikings, were “first movers” when it came to exploring new horizons/lands and had quite an impact on the ways people interacted and started to live their lives in the new settlements e.g. on the British isles and the North American continent. And you probably did not know that our last Viking king, Harald Bluetooth, became legendary for his extraordinary skills in making the Viking settlements unite and communicate with each other – which some thousand years later gave name to the wireless technology uniting different communication protocols into one standard. The Bluetooth symbol on your computer screen is actually an H and a B in runic letters merged on a blue background. Centuries later, another lesser known adventurous Dane – Jonas Bronck, made his mark on today’s New York by developing a piece of land that later became known as the Bronx.

These curious and brave men had their urge for exploration, creativity and impact in common. They all made a difference by inspire and “touching” other people in different ways.

During my fieldwork I saw regular use of the Ida tools e.g. at a Veterans Affairs Hospital in Tampa. I noticed how the Motivation Tools were seamlessly integrated in the VA patient case history form. It made me happy to see that the Ida Institute had been able to inspire a change of practice at the hospital clinics. I am sure that not all audiologists at the VA clinics necessarily know where the “Lines” comes from. The important point here is that the “Lines” are being used with patients, providing the audiologist with a snap shot of the patient’s readiness for action-taking.

Even though you might not be remembered, you can still have an impact and “touch” audiologists on the other side of the globe.