Dificuldades na comunicação entre pessoas com deficiência auditiva e profissionais de saúde: uma questão de saúde pública Communication difficulties between individuals with hearing disability and health professionals: a public health matter

OBJETIVO: Descrever a ocorrência de relatos de pessoas com deficiência auditiva e múltipla (auditiva e visual e/ou mobilidade) quanto às dificuldades para ouvir e entender profissionais de saúde. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal, do tipo inquérito de saúde, realizado com sujeitos selecionados a partir de outros dois estudos de base populacional. A coleta dos dados ocorreu de forma domiciliar, por meio de entrevistas realizadas por entrevistadores treinados, em São Paulo e região. Foram coletadas informações sobre a dificuldade de ouvir e entender o que os profissionais de saúde disseram no último serviço de saúde usado, além de dados demográficos (idade, gênero e raça), econômicos (renda do chefe da família), tipo de serviço de saúde procurado, uso de plano privado de saúde e necessidade de auxílio para ir ao serviço de saúde. RESULTADOS: Dos entrevistados, 35% relataram problemas para ouvir e entender os profissionais de saúde no último serviço visitado; 30,6% (IC95%: 23,4-37,8) para entender os médicos; 18,1% (IC95%: 12,0-24,1) para entender as enfermeiras; e 21,2% (IC95%: 14,8-27,6) para entender os outros funcionários. Não houve diferenças quando se considerou as variáveis demográficas, a necessidade de auxílio para tomar banho e se vestir, comer, levantar-se e/ou andar, possuir ou não plano privado de saúde e tipo de serviço de saúde visitado. CONCLUSÃO: Do total de pessoas entrevistadas, 35% relataram problemas para ouvir e entender o que foi dito por profissionais de saúde. Do total que relatou alguma dificuldade, 34,74% tinham deficiência auditiva e 35,38% deficiência múltipla.<br>PURPOSE: To describe the occurrence of reports from people with hearing and/or multiple disabilities (hearing and visual and/or mobility) regarding hearing and understanding health professionals. METHODS: Cross-sectional study through health survey, conducted with selected subjects from two population-based studies. Data collection took place at subjects' homes, through interviews conducted by trained interviewers in the area of São Paulo. Information regarding difficulties to hear and understand what health professionals said in the last health service used were collected, besides demographic information (age, gender and race), economic data (head of household income), type of health service sought, use of private health insurance, and need of help when accessing the health service. RESULTS: From the interviewees, 35% reported problems to hear and understand the health professionals in the last service visited; 30.6% (95%CI: 23.4-37.8) to understand the physicians; 18.1% (95%CI: 12.0-24.1) to understand the nurses; and 21.2% (95%CI: 14.8-27.6) to understand the other employees. There were no differences for the demographic variables, the need of help with bathing and dressing, eating, standing and/or walking, having or not private health insurance, and type of health service visited. CONCLUSION: From the total of individuals interviewed, 35% reported problems to hear and understand what was said by health professionals. Among these, 34.74% had hearing disability and 35.38% had multiple disabilities

Deaf patients’ access to health services in Switzerland : an interview with Dr. Tatjana Binggeli, medical scientist and president of the Swiss Federation of the Deaf SGB-FSS

In Switzerland, as in other countries, deaf and hearing impaired patients experience deficits in accessing the healthcare system (Binggeli 2015). Too little information on health issues is available to them. Communication with doctors is difficult and there is a lack of sign language interpreters. Deaf and hearing impaired patients report little satisfaction with medical services. Even though their legal status is well regulated, the laws are poorly implemented and discrimination persists. There is a lack of public and professional awareness of the barriers deaf patients have to overcome to obtain information about medical issues and health facilities. To counter this, healthcare staff should be educated about the situation of hearing impaired patients, and training in dealing with hearing impaired patients and sign language must be provided. Hearing impaired and deaf medical staff could promote understanding but are under-represented in the healthcare system