Nursing to the Deaf?

K3ndraR:

Gee- That's a really good question. I've not heard of any Healthcare Facility that caters specifically to the Hearing Impaired.

However, in my years in the Medical Professional, I've often had the opportunity to Sign with the Hearing Impaired in various situations. I became interested in communicating with Hearing Impaired Patients as an LPN. We had at least three Recidivistic Psych Patients at the Hospital I worked at that time. So, for one of my prerequisite classes for the RN program, I took an ASL Class. As I said before, Sign Language has come in handy numerous times.

I am not Certified in Sign Language. The hospital I currently work for keeps a list of those Nurses who are Certified. If they happen not to be scheduled when an Interpreter is needed, I'm a backup person.

Your abilities will be useful, K3ndraR, even if you do not work for a Facility that provides care solely for the Hearing Impaired. Good luck to you.

Dave

Hello. I agree that the thought of working with hearing impaired clients seems very interesting. Years ago after I earned my BSN, I briefly considered earning a second degree in audiology. In my area of Tennesse, we have the Bill Wilkerson Center which offers high quality hearing assessments and special classes for severely hearing impaired children (however, I do not think they employ any RN's). Perhaps you could call your state board of nursing and ask if they are familiar with any facilities who provide special care for the hearing impaired and hire RN's. Best wishes!

I also would love to work with deaf individuals when I graduate. Before I switched to nursing, I was getting my masters in deaf education. I know this would be tough, but if you could get on a cochlear implant team that would be awesome! Also, you might look into working in an ENT office. Since deaf/hoh is such a low incidence population, you're not going to find a high concentration of them in many places. What about being a school nurse at a school for the deaf? Just some ideas! Good luck, they are such a wonderful group of people/culture to work with!

How about a school as an area with a high deaf population? Gallaudet University is a deaf college in DC - my nephew went there and that's a very high conc. Don't know about working there. I'm sure they must have an RN(s) on staff.

You could also get certified (if required) and put yourself on the official in-house call roster for your hospital as an interpreter.

Hi There!

I'm not sure exactly where you are from or where you are looking for work, but I have worked at a skilled nursing and rehab facility in Westerville, Ohio (just northeast of Columbus) for six years now. We are the only nursing facility in the country that caters specifically to the needs of the deaf... about 70% of our residents are deaf and we have a few deaf/blind as well. Passing an ASL level 1 and level 2 test are required within one year of hire here and are offered by our ASL interpreters that are here every day. We are ALWAYS looking for more nurses/aides with ASL knowledge so if you're seriously interested, look into it! I use ASL all day every day here and have really enjoyed acquiring the skill. Columbus Colony Nursing and Rehab.

Brogan

There are often large deaf communities in towns that have residential deaf schools. That may be one thing to look at...

Rochester, NY has a large deaf population.

There is a higher concentration of Deaf in the Washington DC/ Maryland area. I would say that working at an ENT office will not get you that much contact with the deaf since most Deaf people are healthy and don't have active ENT issues. You would maybe work with cochlear implants, but generally kids getting implants are young. They may do some signing, but the goal is to be working toward spoken English. If your interest is ASL for communication, you want to be working with Deaf community in some way. As a generalization, the Deaf community doesn't view their deafness as something to be fixed, and cochlear implants are controversial. Anyway, check out the DC area if you want to work in a hospital that's likely to have a few more Deaf patients. Be careful too using a language that you are not fluent in AND certified as an interpreter. It's fine for small talk and casual communication, but you could be held legally repsonsible if you interpret important information, and you're not certified as an interpreter.