specialized "Deaf/Hard of Hearing" acute care unit

Aerolizing · Dec 11, 2001

Not in Cleveland. We have plenty of people who sign so communication is not really a problem. We have even had a deaf, mute, and blind patient.

So if you specialize, do deaf people ever "hear" voices or do they just have obsessive bad thoughts/paranoia?

greg in mass · Dec 11, 2001

We have had one patient that states that he hears voices that tell him to kill himself. No one knows for sure if he really hears these voices, because he cannot hear any kind of audible voice.

On our unit we have 2 social workers that are deaf and many deaf nursing assistants. We also have two interpretors on staff that work Mon.-Fri.

Our patients can vary from adolescent to geriatric. We have a variety of psychiatric disorders that a patient may present with. For example: Borderline Personality Disorder; Schizophrenia; Schizoafective Disorder; Depression; etc.

UVaRN2Be · Sep 4, 2002

There is one at Western state in Virginia.

challis · Sep 7, 2002

Hello,

In the past, I have nursed a patient who was congenitally deaf and had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. As she had been deaf since birth she had never heard a human "voice". As with schizophrenia, she had auditory hallucinations however she described them as "thoughts". It was usual to see her "signing" in reply to her thoughts/voices (she was mute also). Most of the time the thoughts/voices werent distressing and didnt bother her. When the thoughts/voices became distressing, her "signing" would become more forceful. This was also a good indicator for the nuring staff that she was perhaps becoming mentally unwell. She mostly communicated with the nusing staff through written word or basic signing (which some of us knew). This woman was married (her husband was also deaf) and had three children. She was usually admitted to our unit for respite care. This is the second deaf/hearing imparied mentally ill patient I have nursed. Truly a challenge....

See ya...

PsychNurseDee · Oct 14, 2003

Anyone aware of specialty residential care for deaf psych patients?

renerian, BSN, RN · Oct 14, 2003

We have a skilled facility/:LTC care facility here in Columbus for the hearing impaired and blind folks.

renerian

arty · May 18, 2005

What was the outcome?

Hello,
In the past, I have nursed a patient who was congenitally deaf and had a diagnosis of schizophrenia. As she had been deaf since birth she had never heard a human "voice". As with schizophrenia, she had auditory hallucinations however she described them as "thoughts". It was usual to see her "signing" in reply to her thoughts/voices (she was mute also). Most of the time the thoughts/voices werent distressing and didnt bother her. When the thoughts/voices became distressing, her "signing" would become more forceful. This was also a good indicator for the nuring staff that she was perhaps becoming mentally unwell. She mostly communicated with the nusing staff through written word or basic signing (which some of us knew). This woman was married (her husband was also deaf) and had three children. She was usually admitted to our unit for respite care. This is the second deaf/hearing imparied mentally ill patient I have nursed. Truly a challenge....
See ya...