[Evaluation of the actions increasing health accessibility for deaf pregnant patients].

OBJECTIVES

Deafness concerns about 7% of the French population. In this context, the clinic of obstetrics and gynecology of Grenoble teaching hospital established two adaptation actions in the pregnant signing-deaf patient's management: a partnership with French Sign Language interpreters from the deaf patient reception and care unit, and sign language training for nine professionals. The aim of this study is to evaluate this patient management and to propose some potential improvements.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This descriptive study is made through information from both numeric and paper files of 22 deaf pregnant patients.

RESULTS

A significant adaptation of patient management during scheduled consultations and hospitalisation in the clinic is observed, whereas adaptation rate is weak for emergency situations.

CONCLUSION

The patient management adaptation turns out to be perfectible, through the anticipation of the entire pregnancy consultation schedule. In emergency situations, the creation of a sign language interpreter on-call duty would greatly improve the health care access of these patients.