Student with a disability

Editorial Team / Admin · Jul 3, 2006

Hello, crailroderick,

Check out these threads:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/stethoscopes-hoh-117059.html?highlight=stethoscopes+hard+hearing

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/rn-student-seeking-opinion-pros-about-stethoscopes-139287.html?highlight=stethoscopes+hard+hearing

manoshandsoffate · Jul 3, 2006

i just fnished nursing school, and was worried about the same thing before i started. get an electronic stethascope. they are expensive, like $200, but it is worth it since they are up to 10 times louder than traditional scopes. also be sure to tell everybody else about you disability. i know it kind of sucks to be going around and telling people that you're hard of hearing, but you neet to. i didn't tell one of my clinical instructors and she kept giving me instructions without gaining my attention first. she thought i was ignoring her, but i just never heard her.

LanaBanana · Jul 3, 2006

I have a nursing teacher who is HOH and she's great. She only wears her hearing aids when she has to (carries them in a box in her purse the rest of the time) and uses an amplified steth. The problem she says she runs into is when she has to check students off on skills using the teaching stethoscopes that have earpieces for 2 people because she can't hear out of them. She said she's also learned a lot of coping skills like just watching the needle closer on the BP cuff and said she's about 98% accurate with that. I saw a program on Discovery Health once that was about a deaf woman who went through med school. I can't even imagine how hard it would be! Apparantly there is 1 med school that either has specific program for the deaf or just has a lot of deaf/HOH students. It was very encouraging to watch. Goodluck!

DaFreak71 · Jul 3, 2006

I am a nursing student who is HOH due to nerve damage after a routine procedure to insert ear tubes.

I got a letter from my doctor and submitted it to the disabilities coordinator at my school. This letter states that I should be able to sit at the front of the class and be able to see the speaker. I was open with my classmates at the begining of my first semester and I have always been able to sit in front. You'll find that older people in the nursing homes totally understand your disability and will do their best to speak up if you are upfront with them.

I use an electronic stethoscope by Littmann. It cost $299.00 to have it shipped to me. I realize it is expensive for most people (me too!) but it is an incredible stethoscope and you can hear things your classmates won't be able to hear. I can detect murmurs that no one else can hear. I can also hear that fluid is collecting in the lungs two days before it becomes audible for the average listener. It is well worth the expense.

It's hard enough to be HOH without having to worry if you're going to be able to perform the simple functions of the job. This stethoscope has eliminated that worry for me.

I wish you the best in nursing school. Feel free to PM me for support.

crailroderick · Jul 4, 2006

That is how I lost my hearing also. I just had another set of tubes placed in my ears to control the drainage (30 years old with tubes LOL).

DaFreak71 · Jul 4, 2006

That is how I lost my hearing also. I just had another set of tubes placed in my ears to control the drainage (30 years old with tubes LOL).

Since losing a significant percentage of my hearing, I've often wondered how prevalent is losing your hearing due to tube placement. Every resource I've looked at claims that it is an extremely rare complication. Not much consolation for you and I is it?

How long ago did you have your first ear tubes? I imagine it was a result of chronic fluid collection/ear infections? My ear infections started to become chronic when I was about 33 years old, I am now 35. I had my ear tubes put in December 2005 during the Christmas break between semesters. So I've been HOH for about 7.5 months now.

Did you respond to the ear drop anesthesia or did you have to get injections in your ear drum for that? I had to have the injections because the drops didn't work for me.

crailroderick · Jul 5, 2006

I ws very young when I had my first set of tubes. My ears still fill up with fluid and bleed often. When I wear my hearing aid for long periods of time, they have pus in the plastic part. I have went to several "specialist" but know one can tell me what is wrong or why it is happening. Now because of a lifetime of chronic infections I not longer have a stapes in my ear so the sound does not responate off of it which make hearing difficult. I want a choclear inplant but until they find out "why" it happens then it will just be a waste of $40,000.

LatinGirl · Jul 12, 2006

I am also a student with hearing loss. I wear hearing aids in both ears and use an electronic stethoscope which has allowed me to hear heart and lung sounds I would have not been able to hear before. I agree that you have to be open about it and let everyone know. I told everyone at school and all of my fellow classmates. They were all very helpful and always made sure that I heard what they were saying. In lecture if I had a problem, all I had to do was look at one of my classmates and they would repeat what the instructor said for me. The only problem I have encountered has been at work (I work at a hospital as a nurse tech), some of the nurses can be mean and tell me things as they walk away knowing that I can't make out what they are saying unless they are facing me. Sometimes they will wait till I am walking away to tell me things. I have to keep reminding them that I need to befacing them when they speak to me and sometimes they are annoyed by the situation which is their problem, not mine. You can do it, you will learn to adjust. I was worried in the beginning too, but I found ways around it and you will too. Good luck!