Telephone options for HOH RN's

[lcynrs8]

hi everybody! i am new to all nurses after being referred here from a fellow nursing student, to hopefully get some insight to a problem i am having. i am in my fourth semester of nursing school. i am hearing impaired and i have bilateral cochlear implants. because of this i am not able to use a regular stethoscope and i have gotten through the program by using a stethoscope that hooks up to a pda which graphs the sounds coming through. i then visualize the heart and lung sounds and have become quite good at deciphering the different sounds. those of you that have hearing loss after having prior hearing would probably have a much easier time than i did in learning to distinguish the different sounds with your eyes. the new problem that i am facing is using the telephone. i am aware that there are many avenues to nursing that do not require the use of the telephone but i am really set on working with patients on a hospital unit. i am able to use my cell phone to talk to friends and family and my instructor, but unable to use a landline as it is analog. i do much better with digital service. the problem in the hospital is that my cell phone is not in line with the intercommunication system, as well as overwhelming background noise, and dr's with little patience. in the past i have used a relay service with vco (voice carry over) which allows me to speak directly to the other person and when they respond, and operator would type it to me. i am at a loss with finding any products that are mobile and allow the user intercommunication features. so my question is have any of you ever had a similar experience? i am fully functional in communicating in person, i just lack the telephone ability..... any suggestions?

[allycat4]

Hi, just wanted to say I commend your courageou efforts going to nursing school. The attitude of there is no stopping you is awesome!! I know when I work as a CNA and I would answer the phone there were times I didn't understand, so I would just say hold on one moment please and ask the nurse to take the call. They were understanding. I mean if your doing everything else then it wouldn't hurt to get help and then return that help in some way also. I don't have suggestions on this type of situation but i am guessing that is something you need to work with your employer about this and maybe they can make some accomodations for you. Don't know what to say but I wish you the best of only the best.