How to interact with patients that have hearing disabilities
- Look at and speak directly to the patient.
- Maintain eye contact
- Address the patient not the support person or interpreter
- Speak slowly, and clearly ( no shouting)
- Ask for preferred method of communication
- Provide clear and precise instructions
- Receive comprehension
Awesome summary!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is often called hearing impaired (read: Are you deaf or something!?), I definitely appreciate the methods described here. Sometimes the easiest way is to ask them what they want us to do, since they've been dealing with hearers all their lives, and we very rarely interact with "hero(zero)es".