Societal attitudes toward people with differing abilities are often based on a lack of understanding, fear of the unknown, and stereotypes learned from others. Nursing students enter their educational programs with similar attitudes and experiences. Attitudes of nurses are key to how they respond toward individuals with disabilities and chronic illnesses. The nurses’ attitudes affect […]
Abstract Topics: Training, Health Care Professionals
Medical students’ attitudes toward persons with disability: a comparative study.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate first-year medical students’ attitudes toward persons with disability and to examine whether gender and a background in disability determine attitudes toward persons with disability. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey. SETTING: University settings in the United States and Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Ninety first-year medical students (US, n=46; Canada, n=44) were surveyed. INTERVENTION: Medical students given […]
Communication with deaf and hard-of-hearing people: a guide for medical education.
Some physicians may be insufficiently prepared to work with the many patients who have hearing loss. People with hearing loss constitute approximately 9% of the U.S. population, and the prevalence is increasing. Patients with hearing loss and their physicians report communication difficulties; physicians also report feeling less comfortable with these patients. Although communication with patients […]
Teaching students to care for and about people with disabilities.
Although nursing curricula emphasize acute care in hospitals and communities, 25% of North Americans are living with long-term disabilities without an available or foreseeable cure. Underserved in our society, this group is also underserved in nursing curricula, which rarely address their unique needs and issues. The authors share information about a required baccalaureate nursing course […]