hispanicaud-blog

[hispanicaud-blog]

This is a video I made explaining why I made this Tumblr and what I learned. I hope you enjoyed this blog and maybe help someone in the future!

[hispanicaud-blog]

I found this video in YouTube of how to find an audiologist that suits one’s needs. If someone is new to the audiology world and needs help with what provider to choose. This video can help guide their decision and make their visits to the doctor’s office easier.

Especially for minorities, such as Hispanics, which makes it difficult to find a provider that you are able to have a connection with and will understand the values of your culture.

Chicago Hearing Care - Hearing Aids. (2016, April 20). Retrieved December 1, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM5neX8iOgY

[hispanicaud-blog]

Resources for Audiologists

In this study conducted by Reel, Hicks, Ortiz, and Rodriguez, they create resources for English speaking audiologists, so that they are able to cater to their Spanish-speaking population. They made translations on paper, as well as videos for professionals and patients. This is groundbreaking because never before have there been videos made for audiologists.

As a Hispanic and future audiologist, it makes me feel happy when there are new materials released for minorities so that they are able to understand their instructions, diagnosis, or treatment. Being culturally competent is so important and it impacts not only the patient but the professional as well. Learning more about the patient’s values and culture helps you understand why they act certain ways and how they respond to certain situations.

Gracias a los audiólogos que crearon estos materiales. ¡Son muy apreciados!

Reel, L.A., HIcks, C.B., Ortiz, N., & Rodriguez, A. (2015). New resources for audiologists working with Hispanic patients: Spanish translations and cultural training. American journal of audiology, 24(1), 11-22.

[hispanicaud-blog]

This link from ASHA, helps professionals join a community of other professionals who serve the Hispanic communities. The Hispanic Caucus helps these communities by serving as advocates that help minorities get access to healthcare or different services. The Hispanic Caucus is not limited to professionals who only speak Spanish. Any professional is welcome and encouraged to join and help the Spanish-speaking community.

[hispanicaud-blog]

Beth Phillips, the author of this article, talks about the professional and population gap of Texas and how a group of Audiology graduate students are helping English-speaking Audiologists give better diagnoses to Spanish speakers.

"’Studies in the medical field have reported that patients can feel less satisfied with their health care if providers don’t speak their language’,” Reel said. “’They may also feel less valued, and may even be less likely to seek medical care.’”

Phillips, B. (2012, September 28). LOST IN TRANSLATION: AUDIOLOGISTS WORK TO OVERCOME LANGUAGE BARRIERS. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from https://dailydose.ttuhsc.edu/2012/september/lost-in-translation-audiologists-work-to-ove.aspx

[hispanicaud-blog]

Early Intervention in Audiology

Early intervention in Audiology is extremely important due to the sensitivity of the ear and its interactions with the brain. The law states that infants should be screened by month 1, diagnosed by month 3, and and intervention by month 6. This has been proven to be the most effective way to improve the outcome for those born deaf or hard of hearing. The study proceeds to talk about how the Hispanic population was more likely to not receive re-screening for hearing loss, out of all the 5 areas tested. 

This is important because what can audiologists do to reach out to this community in need? “Audiologists who are visible and provide technical assistance based on a hospital’s outcomes such as screening rates, referral rates, and re-screen rates improve overall re-screen rates” (Thomson & Yoshinaga-Ithano, 2018, p. 9).

The fact that being born to a Hispanic mother lowers the rates of being re-screened, if hearing screening is failed, is a reality that people live in every day. Socio-economic status and factors impact these decisions, for Audiology and healthcare, which is why a lot of people don’t, or can’t, receive the care they need.

Thomson, V., & Yoshinaga-Ithano, C. (2018). Audiologists Key to EHDI Programs. The Hearing Journal, 71(11), 8-9.

[hispanicaud-blog]

ASHA Demographics

Hello! Hispanics, as mentioned before, are the fastest growing minority in the United States. So why are there so few Audiologists that are Hispanic. To give you an idea, there are roughly 13,118 audiologists in the United States. 12,200 are Members and Certificate Holders of ASHA. ASHA is the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and oversees all Speech Language Pathologists, as well as Audiologists.

Out of the 12,200 who are certified to work as practicing in Audiology, only 349 of those are Hispanic or Latino; that is roughly only 3%. These statistics, from ASHA, really prove the need for Hispanic audiologists in the United States. Hopefully, as I get closer to my dream, I will be a Hispanic Audiologist.

source: https://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/2016-Member-Counts.pdf

[hispanicaud-blog]

This article is a great tool for Hispanic Audiologists who work primarily in the states, who have patients that speak English and Spanish. AnaMarie Garcia and Jennifer Landers took the usual Audiological Testing words and instructions and translated them to Spanish. This tool might be helpful for audiologists to become more culturally aware of Hispanics. It can also help with transmitting the message to the patient, to make sure that he/she/they are able to understand and respond correctly when prompted.

Although there is a lot of linguistic diversity in the Spanish language, having instructions like these make a huge difference for Hispanic people and they will value that a culturally diverse environment is accepted.

Being able to see so much diversity within a language is due to dialects. Even though a dialect will affect words in the day-to-day settings of these people, the main and more important medical terms remain the same, which is why these instructions are extremely important and can be used in many different Hispanic, Latin, and Caribbean countries.

Huch, J. (2018, February 20). A Little Spanish Translation Goes a Long Way in the Audiology Clinic. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from https://hearinghealthmatters.org/hearinprivatepractice/2012/a-little-spanish-translation-goes-a-long-way/

[hispanicaud-blog]

Hispanics and Audiology

This project by Audrey Morrison is a great study to compare to the last article. Audiology has a big gap between professional and patient population regarding the cultural diversity. Morrison talks about the Hispanic population and how it is the fastest growing minority. Due to the increasing nature in the United States of Hispanics, there need to be professionals, not only in Audiology, that can meet the needs, culturally, of these patients. The professionals need to understand that there is a barrier, language, religion, etc., that some people might not feel comfortable going to receive care to someone who does not understand, or empathize with them.

Morrison also emphasizes the fact that there are many Hispanic families that do not have access to healthcare and how children who are hard of hearing or deaf sometimes do not receive appropriate treatment due to this. It is very sad knowing and coming from an under served medical community because people are dying and struggling every single day of diseases, disorders, among others, that can be treated fairly easily.

The socio-economic diversity in these communities really impacts how these children are taken care of, the education they will receive, and what kind of future they will lead. It is important care for these minorities so that they can improve their chances of living. 

Morrison, A.M. (2008). Providing culturally effective audiological services to the Hispanic pediatric population: The Ohio State University.

[hispanicaud-blog]

Although this article is based off from the information of Speech-Language Pathology, it can still be applied to Audiology. I particularly like the article because I can sympathize with the struggle of finding a provider that speaks Spanish or understands the differences in culture.

The discrepancies between professionals and patients are astounding and frankly sad. There should be more professionals in the field who are able to reach these minorities and populations because they are in need of treatment. 

Countries, such as Puerto Rico, who have an underserved medical community, need all of the help they can get. Especially after Hurricane Maria, which left the country in shambles, and approximately 2,975 people have died due to poor facilities and services.

It is because of professionals such as Ivan Campos, the author of the article, that minorities, such as Hispanic, black, native-Americans, among many more, feel comfortable now going to providers with a diverse background.

Campos, I. (2017, April 16). Cultural and Linguistic Diversity of American Speech Language Pathologists. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from http://www.speechscience.org/14-cultural-and-linguistic-diversity/2017/4/16/cultural-and-linguistic-diversity-of-american-speech-language-pathologists

[hispanicaud-blog]

Diversity in Audiology

In this article, published by the American Journal of Audiology and written by Robert Burkard in 2002, he emphasizes the importance of educating the next generation of Audiologists with diversity. When the profession was born, after World War II, most of the audiologists had formal training in other disciplines. When the career started to flourish, and more universities started to add them to their graduate programs, a large number of people decided to pursue the profession. With the patient population increasing and hearing loss being the #1 birth defect in the United States, people seek help from audiologists to solve this problem. To quote directly from the article, Burkard said it best, “I do know that if we homogenize our clinical education and training of audiologists, then this utter lack of diversity will make it all the more probable that the field of audiology will be in jeopardy. To see the correct path for our future, we must look to our past. We must embrace diversity in our education and training of audiologists”.

Burkard, R. (2002). Educating audiologists: Diversity or homogeneity? American journal of audiology, 11(1), 4-6.

[hispanicaud-blog]

As a minority, I take pride in helping people learn about differences in cultures and why diversity is important in the workplace, more importantly, in Audiology. On the ASHA website, they define cultural competency, discuss different key issues and resources that can help professionals in the field. 

Cultural competency is a term that is on the rise due to there being a very diverse patient population but the majority of the clinicians remain as white females. The more diverse the population, the more cultural competency a person should have, more so if they live in a place where there is a high demographic for a different culture, religion, language, among others. 

This page really helped me understand the different roles a clinician has when treating a diverse patient and how the treatment is affected by all of the different factors present in his life. Being mindful and aware of other cultures is important in the Communication Sciences and Disorders field; every decision has an impact on everyone else.

Cultural Competence: Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2018, from https://www.asha.org/PRPSpecificTopic.aspx?folderid=8589935230§ion=Overview

[hispanicaud-blog]

Get to know me!

Hello! I’m 21, I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to the United States a little over 3 years ago.  When I graduated from high school, I decided to move to the states for a chance at a better education and career path. Once I moved, I didn’t think that there would be such a culture gap, considering that Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. However, it was very impacting and I had a rough time acclimating to the differences. Nonetheless, I worked hard and now have finished applying to Audiology programs to get closer to my dream.

[hispanicaud-blog]

Hello!

My name is Patricia and this is my first post! My tumblr is about Hispanic Audiologists in the United States and possible issues that they might face in the workplace due to stereotypes or other problems. As a Hispanic woman, I think it is important to bring light to these problems facing Hispanic Audiologists, as I want to be one in the future. With conversations, discussions, and debates, these issues can be resolved to create a diverse workplace for everyone. Although there are many minorities that work as Audiologists, I will be focusing on Hispanics!

Also, I would like to focus on patients that are Hispanic too. Because there are so little resources for both Hispanic audiologists and patients, it ultimately makes it a very small percentage of Audiologists who can effectively treat Spanish-speaking patients. 

I hope this blog can help anyone who is thinking of going into Audiology and who is Hispanic and needs help with what to do regarding seeking care.