Deaf awareness training in medical schools

Dear Sir

The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2030 adult-onset hearing loss will be within the top 10 disease burdens in developed countries, above cataract and diabetes (Mathers & Loncar 2006).

Deaf and hard of hearing people frequently encounter difficulties communicating effectively in healthcare settings. Doctors are often unaware of such issues, leading to feelings of isolation and exclusion in patients. Clearly, there is a role for training at medical school.

Since the extent of such training provision is unknown, we conducted a questionnaire survey of all UK and Ireland medical schools (n = 38). Twenty-three completed replies were received revealing significant variations in the scope of training offered.

One-third (7/23) of medical schools did not provide any deaf awareness training and, of the 16 universities who said they provided training, only 8 made this compulsory. Six provided a formal qualification in Sign Language or deaf awareness and 10 (63%) offered no formal qualification. Teaching methods included seminars, workshops, role plays and small group work. Time spent in training ranged from 1–2 hours to 6 weeks. Eleven schools involved relevant professionals, including audiologists, hearing advisors, speech and language therapists and staff from local deaf centres. Only one involved Action on Hearing Loss, though 13/16 involved a deaf person as a tutor in training delivery.

Deaf awareness training can have a positive effect on patients, healthcare staff and medical students (Steinberg et al. 2006). Whilst such basic training can never result in sign language fluency, and make communication completely straightforward, deaf and hard of hearing people do feel positively about staff receiving training.

Lack of expertise can prevent medical schools from running training courses. Six respondents expressed an interest in developing deaf awareness training, stating that information about how to create and run such a course would be useful. Practical guidelines and illustrative course materials have therefore been incorporated in a DVD, available on request to all health educators and also online at www.med.qub.ac.uk/DeafAwareHealth/index.html.

Further research is needed to gauge the effectiveness of training and to elucidate the experiences, attitudes and skills development and retention of students who have completed such training courses.