Issues To Consider In Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Patients

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

for conducting interviews with these patients.

Illustrative Case

A 60-year-old deaf woman, a native user of American Sign Language, presented as a new referral. During visits with her previous physician, she had always communicated by using her daughter as an interpreter. The referral physician arranged for a certified interpreter and then called the new patient (using the state's relay service) to inform her that an interpreter would be present during the office visit. The patient expressed her relief. For the interview, the physician chose a well-lit room and allowed the interpreter and the patient to arrange the seating. The patient appeared to be comfortable and stated her sense of ease with the environment. She then asked her daughter to leave the room. Her chief complaint was rectal bleeding, a symptom that had been present for several months. The patient had not previously discussed the complaint because of embarrassment in the presence of her ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

language and formed their social ties to hearing people. Therefore, most of these individuals communicate by spoken (rather than signed) language, through assistive devices, lip reading and note writing.(n11, n12) Lip reading (or "speech reading") is inherently unreliable, because only 30 to 40 percent of spoken speech is visible externally. For example, "mama" and "papa" are indistinguishable from each other, as are "eight," "nine" and "ten."

The modes of visual communication used by deaf persons include American Sign Language (ASL, or Ameslan); "manually coded" English (numerous artificial systems in which gestures and borrowed signs are used to represent parts of English speech); ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: