Workshop

The health professions are seeing increasing numbers of deaf and hard of hearing trainees and practitioners among their ranks, including physicians and nurses. As deaf professionals may use communication methods generally unfamiliar to their colleagues, such as signed language or speech-reading, the field of healthcare has seen a corresponding increase in the need for accommodations, including interpreters. A number of deaf physicians have developed such a rapport with certain interpreters that their teamwork has become more efficient and successful with regards to professional education and patient care. We draw on our twelve years of work experience together to introduce to students a growing specialization within the field of medical interpreting.