Assessment of community pharmacists’ communication and comfort levels when interacting with Deaf and hard of hearing patients
2021
Background
: Deaf and hard of hearing patients who use sign language face considerable communication barriers while accessing
pharmacy services. Low comfort
-
levels bet
ween community pharmacists and
D
eaf and hard of hearing patients result in p
oor
interactions and
increase patient safety risks.
Objective
: 1) To examine the way commu
nity pharmacists interact with
D
eaf and hard of hearing patients in Malaysia, and their level
of comfort in such interactions. 2) To examine how comfort
-
levels vary b
y the preferred communication methods, resources and
employer support.
Methods
: This cross
-
sectional study was conducted among registered community pharmacists practicing in Malaysia. Questionnaire
items included comfort
-
levels of community pha
rmacists whe
n interacting with
D
eaf and hard of hearing patients, used and preferred
communication methods, necessary resources, and perceived employer’s level of support. Based on the list of registered pharma
cies,
the questionnaire with a pre
-
paid return envelope wa
s mailed out while pharmacies close to the university were approached in
person. This questionnaire was distributed online using Google Form. Comparisons between comfort
-
levels and study parameters
were analyzed using independent t
-
tests and ANOVA.
Results
: A total of 297 community pharmacists responded (response rate 29.2%). Higher comfort
-
levels were reported in those who
had received between 1 to 5 prescriptions as compared to those who did
not receive p
rescriptions from
D
eaf and hard of hearing
patients
(MD=
-
0.257, SD=0.104, p=
0
.042). More than 80% used written information and only 3.4% had used the services of a qualified
sign language interpreter throughout their community pharmacist career. Significantly lower comfort
-
levels (p=
0
.0004) were reported
in community pharmacists who perceived training in sign language a
s a necessity to interact with
D
eaf and hard of hearing patients
(M=3.6, SD=0.9) versus those who
were
not
interested
in sign language training (M=3.8, SD=
0.6).
Conclusions
: The results sugg
est that community pharmacists were neither extremely comfortable no
r averse when interacting with
D
eaf and hard of hearing patients. The lack of significant findings in terms of comfort
-
levels may indicate other potential drivers for
their choice of commu
nicatio
n method when interacting with
D
eaf and hard of hearing patients.
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