Audit of Current Care Pathways for Tinnitus in the United Kingdom (ACCEPT Audit) 

A national audit of the current care pathways for patients with tinnitus in the United Kingdom.

Background

Tinnitus affects approximately 14% of the general population, often causing distress and affecting quality of life. Despite tinnitus contributing a considerable portion of the outpatient workload in ENT, audiology and audiovestibular medicine departments, understanding of the causative pathophysiological mechanisms and optimal management strategies for tinnitus patients remains poor, and there are limited standardised guidelines available to clinicians. 

Aim

INTEGRATE aims to conduct a national audit of tinnitus management pathways to allow better understanding of the presentation, investigation, and management of patients with constant tinnitus. This data can help inform the development of national guidance in the management of patients with tinnitus. 

Get Involved with ACCEPT

We are looking for trainee leads and collaborators from hospitals across the UK to undertake the data collection for the ACCEPT national audit. All collaborators who contribute to the data collection will be acknowledged as a collaborative author in any and all publications arising from the collected data. 

For anyone wishing to apply for ENT ST3 this contribution to a collaborative project will currently score you points on your application.

Data Collection Timeline

Start Date: 18/03/2024

End Date: 01/07/2024

Data Collection Window

We would like you to collect data for patients presenting to your department between:

Start Date: 01/08/2022

End Date: 31/10/2022

What is Involved? 

Involvement as a collaborator in the ACCEPT audit will involve: 

  1. Registering the audit with your local audit department with the assistance of the steering committee 
  2. Collaborating within your ENT, Audiology and Audiovestibular Medicine departments if possible
  3. Retrospective identification of patients presenting to outpatient services with tinnitus and screening them against the provided inclusion/exclusion criteria 
  4. Collecting data using the tool provided for all eligible patients. 
  5. Storing anonymised data locally and providing this to the INTEGRATE Project Management Team before the end of the data collection timeline. 

CHECKLIST & DATES

  1. Register your intended participation with INTEGRATE (form link here)
  2. Register with your local audit department/ Caldicott guardian. Please try to do this as soon as possible.
    1. The Study Protocol should streamline this process and a standardised letter to your audit department is provided here.
  3. Identify your patients
    1. Identify new patients presenting to relevant clinics from 01/08/2022 – 31/10/2022. 
    2. Of these patients, keep a record of the total number, and identify those presenting with tinnitus as per the inclusion criteria.
  4. Collect your data
    1. For included patients, collect their data using NHS numbers only and no identifiable information, via the Excel Data Collection Tool, available for download here.
    2. Make a backup copy of the file to be kept securely
    3. Anonymise the original file by deleting any NHS/ MRN/ CHI numbers before you submit to the INTEGRATE Project Management Team
  5. Submit your data
    1. Email your anonymised Excel Data Tool to tinnitus@entintegrate.co.uk any time before 1st July 2024

Recognition

Trainee Site Leads, Consultant Leads and Local Collaborators will be acknowledged for their involvement in this national collaborative audit, in any subsequent outputs, including presentations/publications. This is subject to meeting the minimum screening requirement (200 newly presenting patients to relevant clinics) and minimum inclusion number of at least 5 patients. 

Contact Us 

If you wish to be involved, or want further information, please follow the instructions above or contact us: 

tinnitus@entintegrate.co.uk