Pharmacists’ communication skills with deaf and hard of hearing patients: A needs assessment

OBJECTIVES: Assess the Saudi pharmacists’ perceptions of their responsibilities toward deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) patients, their current practices, and their need for communication skills training. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective cross-sectional study. METHODS: Pharmacist and deaf communication questionnaire (PDCQ), a newly structured, validated, pilot-tested, and self-administered online questionnaire, was used to collect data. A total of 303 pharmacists working in the Saudi community and outpatient pharmacies participated in the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS and descriptive statistics were used to describe the study findings. These included Mean ± standard deviation (SD), frequency, and Chi-square tests. RESULTS: Most pharmacists perceived that DHH patients had difficulty correctly understanding their medication instructions. Writing was the most common method used for communication, whereas the unavailability of interpreters and the low reading levels of these patients were the highest barriers to communication. Moreover, most pharmacists believed that they should be skilled at communicating with DHH patients. However, many pharmacists felt that they are not well prepared to communicate with these patients. CONCLUSION: This research highlights the poor skills, low confidence and low knowledge Saudi pharmacists have about their legal obligations towards DHH patients. In addition, there is paucity of sufficient resources to help pharmacists improve their communication with such patients.