Hard of hearing nursing student here! I use an electronic stethoscope and the school ensures that I have front and center seating in the classroom. I was told that I would not benefit from hearing aids due to the nature of my hearing loss, but as you already know, we have clever ways of functioning with this disability.
One day in clinical I discovered that my batteries in my stethoscope had dies, so I wasn't able to hear heart/lung/bowel sounds. So my clinical instructor did it for me. Afterward, (feeling afraid that she would be irritated by having to do this for me) she patted me on the back kindly and told me she was happy to help. Made me feel really good. One cool thing about my steth is that I'm able to hear murmurs and lung sounds so much better than the floor nurses and doctors. My classmates have sampled my steth are blown away by how clearly they can hear them too. It's a littman by the way.
During my first semester I had one incident that really angered me due to a miscommunication and my hearing impairment. In clinical one day I was in the process of checking off my meds with a different clinical instructor before administering them. Someone came into the med room and told the instructor she had a phone call, she said "OK" at the same time that I was asking if I was good to go to give my patient her meds. Believing that she was saying "OK" to me, I proceeded to walk down the hall and gave the patient her meds. After clinical that day she called me into the office and wrote me up for a med error, stating that she did not give me the "OK" to give the meds (even though the meds were correct). I explained to her that she said "OK" to me, and she told me she said "OK" to the person who informed her that she had a phone call. I felt it was unfair to get a med error, but what can ya do?
Hold your head up high, do not apologize for your impairment, and expect success!
Would you like to comment?
I know some sign language(ASL and English) and still learning. I depend on interpreters for my nursing classes. I am wearing both hearing aids. 
