Medical accommodations for deaf EMT?

ChrisLS

ChrisLS

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I am registered to take the EMT certification course this summer, and the EMT department is concerned with my ability to use the stethoscope with my profound bilateral hearing loss. It was suggested that I purchase my own specialized stethoscope....

I know there are other deaf EMTs and medical staff (nurses, doctors, etc) and would like to know what devices work. Sort of "cyber-shopping"? (you know, like window-shopping... but... on the net... eh, nevermind.) I use a BTE hearing aid in one ear, btw.

Also - if anyone would like to address the EMT department's other concern with potentially successfully landing a job with an ambulance corporation in NY, as that seems it may be an obstacle as far as the actual job descriptions go.
 
I was an EMT in NY for 9 years and rode with a HOH EMT for 3. Now, I haven't re-certed in 10 years and standards change but here are some things that I'd look into.

From a purely academic stand point you shouldn't have any issue passing the practical. The only section that relies on hearing is taking BP and there's a loop hole that allows you to take it via palpation thus skipping the need to use a stethoscope.

A larger issue is actually meeting the communication criteria. In order to get your EMT cert in NY you must be able to communicate with hospital staff over a radio in English

The HOH EMT I rode used the BP exception to pass her test and was able use the radio as long as the volume was cranked up so she got her cert. Now, the reality of the situation was that using the radio was actually not practical for her so someone else did that. And while she could get a baseline set of vitals, someone else had to do lung sounds and full BP.

Now, in our Squad none of those "issues" were ever a problem because we always ran with a minimum of 3 people so there was always someone around to cover the couple of things she couldn't do. However, many paid/city ambulances only run with 2 EMT's (one of whom is driving) and that could present problems.

Hope this helps.
 
There's a thread floating around here somewhere with hospital professionals chiming in on this. I just got certified for nursing assisting and ran into the same problem when taking BP, but my employer let me borrow one of their visual machines to take it instead of with a stethoscope and I passed.


Sent from my iPhone using AllDeaf
 
Unfortunately, many tools available "in hospital" are not available nor practical in a pre-hospital emergency setting.
 
They do sell amplified stethescopes, but I don't know if that's amplified enough for you.

I wonder if carrying an automatic BP machine is going to be practical. They are battery operated and don't require any listening. You probably won't be able to use it to pass the test but using it while you're actually working could work out.
 
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