Caroline Rae, Vestibular Team Lead, NHS Tayside, Dundee.
I recently attended the 4th Annual Trends in Balance online course. I have attended previous courses and I have always found them to be informative and beneficial.
I will admit there is always that element of ‘I will sign up for the online course and it can be on in the background as I multi-task and get on with some other work’, but I have to say as soon as I discovered that this course was going to be a little more interactive and not just presentation after presentation, I was hooked.
The course ran over three days. Day one was optimizing the vestibular diagnostic test battery, which gave an interesting overview of diagnostic assessment to date and highlighted the number of diagnostic assessment options available, looking at both canal and otolith assessments. It also introduced the two virtual patients, Kareem and Lynne. We would follow their journey throughout the course from assessment to rehabilitation. Participants were asked (through polls) which tests they would like to carry out first and as each result was interpreted we were asked if we would continue to test or start to think about diagnosis.
Day two looked at the functional balance assessments available and again we were seeing how Kareem and Lynne (who by this point we could assume each had a vestibular hypofunction) coped functionally with their balance, it looked at the overall patient pathways for vestibular assessment and we got to see their individual assessment results for gaze stabilisation, dynamic visual acuity, SOT and limits of stability. Advice was given on how to interpret test results and useful videos showed how the assessments were carried out in clinic.
Day three looked at vestibular rehabilitation. It showed functional VOR assessment and the use of virtual reality to assist with visual vertigo and a final presentation on the use of dual tasking, which is a nice addition on any vestibular rehabilitation training program.
This three-day course in now available on the Interacoustics academy website and I have already recommended it to colleagues who have been carrying out balance assessment and rehabilitation for years and also to trainees who are new to the field. I think both will take away positives and new learning from the course:
www.interacoustics.com/academy/training/academy/balance-testing-training/language-option/english
