Signs for Talking about Health and Medical Care - American Sign Language Class

As a medical professional for 17 years here's how things go with non english speakers, Spanish the exception. Deaf, Vietnamese, Laos come to ER. At point of contact w/ registration, registration will call and interpreter. Thymus be there within 30-45 minutes. Usually about the time patient is in triage. For ear patients we have a white board where they can point to body parts, pain level, write etc. Sorta advanced actually. They can tiagein that sense, but it'snot until the interpreter show up can a doctor provide any medical advice. That is for the patient and the doctor safety so no mistakes or communication is lost, and most hospital interpreters are familiar with medical procedures and pharmacology. I'm pretty sure IV's, X-rays and EKGs can be done without a translator. We can rely on family for basic information but cannot use their interpretations as medical advice for the patient. Thepatient gets medical autonomy via third party. But, all the questions you used were super valid. But even something simple like 2 weeks can get lost on a nurse. I used to have to go to ER for basic conversation with a lot of the things you talked about. If an interpreter does not come, they will use the white board for "verbal" communication all the way up to the floors until an interpret can be found. Usually in the mornings. If is a trauma or serious trauma, we don't ask questions, we do to save. I don't mean to be negative, just educational, because the examples written could cause an adverse effect if one sign or one gesture is miscommunicated. Thanks.

it was a little advanced for me (only learning for 2 weeks) - but very informative and easy to follow! I learned some new signs and different sentence structure.