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Sign language backed for medical students

01/10/2008

Learning sign language should be an integral part of medical training, experts have said.

Michael Paddock and colleagues from Kings College London School of Medicine and South West London and St George’s Mental Healthcare NHS Trust write on bmj.com that the mental health needs of deaf people are being neglected because of the problem.

They point out that healthcare for deaf people is being compromised because of poor communication. Over 70 per cent of deaf patients have no interpreters in A&E consultations while 28 per cent of deaf people avoid going to see their general practitioner because of poor communication.

"Access of deaf people to healthcare provision is restricted on a daily basis through a lack of appropriate awareness and skills among healthcare professionals," they write.

"Basic instruction in deaf awareness and appropriate communication tactics with deaf people are imperative for the medical students of today."

Deaf people are defined as those who were born deaf and whose preferred form of communication is British sign language.

Up to 40 per cent of the deaf community experience mental health problems at some time in their lives, nearly double that of the wider UK population.

"The needs arising from this significantly higher incidence of mental health problems in the deaf community must be met by competent healthcare professionals, to ensure that access to healthcare provision and services is not restricted," they say.

"Unsurprisingly, a rise in the use of signed communication with deaf individuals seems to be associated with a fall in the prevalence of mental health problems."

Introducing deaf awareness and "appropriate communication tactics" to the medical curriculum could help solve the problem, the writers say.