AUTHOR BIOHRAPHY
Christine E. Sanchez, MPH, Patient Safety Authority
ORCID iD https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5145-9813
Christine E. Sanchez (chrsanchez@pa.gov) is a research scientist on the Data Science & Research team at the Patient Safety Authority. She is responsible for utilizing patient safety data, combined with relevant literature, to develop strategies aimed at improving patient safety in Pennsylvania.
ABSTRACT
In the United States, approximately 3.6% of the population—about 11 million individuals—are deaf or hard of hearing1 and about 1 million adults who are deaf or hard of hearing use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate.2 Patients who use ASL can encounter communication-related patient safety challenges in various healthcare settings.3–6 While some of these patients can use alternatives to ASL to communicate, such as lipreading or written communication methods,3,7 these are considered inferior to using ASL interpreters.7,8 For example, lip-readers may only understand part of a conversation7,9 and written communication could be limited by other factors, such as education and literacy challenges.10 Addressing these communication challenges can improve confidence in care provided, patient understanding, and—ultimately—patient safety.
Keywords
patient safety, ASL, health communication
