NTID team publishes paper on accessible health care

Tiffany Panko, research faculty; Jessica Contreras, research program coordinator; Wendy Dannels, research faculty; and Peter Hauser, assistant dean for research mentorship, all of NTID’s Center for Culture and Language, along with Ashley Mussallem ’21 (biomedical sciences) and external collaborators Melissa Plegue (University of Michigan), Dr. Michael McKee (University of Michigan), and Dr. Gretchen Roman (University of Rochester Medical Center) published “Making virtual health care accessible to the deaf community: Findings from the telehealth survey” in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare. The team’s survey found that the deaf and hard-of-hearing community experienced communication challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the sudden shift from in-person care to use of telehealth appointments, highlighting the importance of standard protocols that ensure full access with use of qualified interpreters and captionists and full inclusion of all parties on the telehealth platform during appointments.