Deaf Patient Observation Report

Observation Report #2 For this report, I observed a medical appointment between a Deaf patient and an endocrinologist for a customary 3-month check up. The appointment was interpreted by Michon Shaw, who holds both an M.S. degree, and NIC Advanced certification. The patient was there to refill all of their prescriptions, as well as make sure their overall health had not wavered in any way. When I arrived to the appointment, I sat in the lobby waiting for Mrs. Shaw to arrive as well. A few short minuets later she came in and we began chatting. The Deaf patient was actually running behind schedule so we continued to wait in the lobby. Mrs. Shaw explained to me that for every 1 hour of the assignment, it is appropriate to wait 15 minuets for

When the doctor noticed that the response (that the interpreter was voicing) was not leading to the answer they were looking for, the doctor asked the same question again in a different way, while the interpreter was still voicing the answer. The interpreter said “one moment please” many times, in order for the patient to fully explain themselves. I realized that this was a form of cultural mediation. Deaf people can often take (what seems to be a long time to hearing people) to explain their answers to something. English is so clear-cut-and-dry when it comes to answering questions, and really speaking in general, but ASL is not. Mrs. Shaw explained that after a few times of that situation occurring, she knew that the patient would get to the answer eventually. She just had to remind the doctor to give the patient a few moments to fully explain themselves. The interpreter would also use that phrase “one moment please” when the doctor would say something and she knew that it was going to be more of a lengthy interpretation than the doctor might think. For example, the doctor said “We will divide your total dose into 3 times a day” Mrs. Shaw said “one moment please,” in order to let the doctor know not to continue on conversation yet. She went into setting up in her space morning, afternoon, and night, and how much of the total dose would be taken at each. When she finished her interpretation, she would say “go ahead”. I also noted that when the interpreter needed clarification for herself, she would lower her body position towards the doctor, but when she was interpreting she remained upright at good