The Role of Health Practitioners

ATA PODCASTS: TRANSCRIPT

The Role of Health Practitioners

Title: The Role of Health Practitioners
Description:Tinnitus researcher and clinician William Hal Martin, Ph.D. discusses the importance of a tinnitus management program.
Author: American Tinnitus Association; recorded by filmmaker, ATA member and advocate Jose Zambrano Cassella
Length: 01:48
Size: 1.24 MB

Transcript

(Music intro)
 

William Hal Martin, Ph.D.: A lot of patients go to their physicians, whether they be otolarygologist, an ear nose and throat doctor, or a neurologist or even a family practice doctor and expect them to fix their tinnitus and to take care of them.

The role of physicians is to identify the active disease processes, to come up with a diagnosis and to treat any disorder. Physicians are not trained in management of tinnitus.

If I went to an orthopedic surgeon because I broke my leg and I really broke it bad, the orthopedic surgeon would be very skilled at putting the pins in and setting everything and putting the screws in and putting it all back together. Then I would go back to that person in 6 to 8 weeks and they would take off the cast and they would be very proud that my bone was healed and they would say 'You're fine'. And I still wouldn't be able to walk yet but I would be fine from a medical perspective. I would go to a physical therapist at that point who would teach me how to walk again. 

In this case, the otolaryngologist and neurologist, for the most part, are very good at diagnosing any problems that need to be addressed. After that, the important thing is to find a management program, this can be audiologists, it can be neurologists or otolaryngologists as well, but a group of people who have committed themselves to managing tinnitus and helping find relief and control for the patient-even if we can't make the tinnitus go away. So that distinction needs to be made.

(Music outro)