Miss-Delectable
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OnMedica - News: Healthcare of deaf patients compromised because doctors lack the skills to communicate them
Medical students should know how to communicate better with deaf people and the hard of hearing an article on BMJ.com argues.
The author Michael Paddock from King’s College London School of Medicine says healthcare professionals lack basic deaf awareness skills so appropriate communication support is not available for patients with hearing problems.
He calls for these skills to be added to the medical curriculum to ensure the deaf do not experience restricted access to essential health services.
Nearly nine million people in the UK are hard of hearing (almost a sixth of the population), 70% of deaf patients are not give interpreters in A&E and 28% of dear people avoid going to see their general practitioner because of communication problems.
A Sensory Awareness development and training programme, covering areas such as how to check hearing aids and maximise communication with patients who lip read, has already been added to the undergraduate medical curriculum at King’s College London. A special study module, ‘Deaf Awareness and British Sign Language’, is also offered.
If the undergraduate medical curriculum is to produce competent physicians who “listen to patients and respond to their concerns and preferences” and “give patients the information they want or need in a way they can understand” then other medical schools must follow King’s College’s example, Mr Paddock argues.
Medical students should know how to communicate better with deaf people and the hard of hearing an article on BMJ.com argues.
The author Michael Paddock from King’s College London School of Medicine says healthcare professionals lack basic deaf awareness skills so appropriate communication support is not available for patients with hearing problems.
He calls for these skills to be added to the medical curriculum to ensure the deaf do not experience restricted access to essential health services.
Nearly nine million people in the UK are hard of hearing (almost a sixth of the population), 70% of deaf patients are not give interpreters in A&E and 28% of dear people avoid going to see their general practitioner because of communication problems.
A Sensory Awareness development and training programme, covering areas such as how to check hearing aids and maximise communication with patients who lip read, has already been added to the undergraduate medical curriculum at King’s College London. A special study module, ‘Deaf Awareness and British Sign Language’, is also offered.
If the undergraduate medical curriculum is to produce competent physicians who “listen to patients and respond to their concerns and preferences” and “give patients the information they want or need in a way they can understand” then other medical schools must follow King’s College’s example, Mr Paddock argues.