Paediatric nursing with a hearing loss

[Disney1sttimers]

My 15 year old daughter is considering Paediatric Nursing as a career. She finds academic work quite challenging but always tries her hardest and last week she received her Junior Certificate results (1 A, 7 B's and 1 C, 3 of these were at higher level). The Irish junior cert is the equivalent of GCSE's.

She is now exploring the idea of nursing, specifically paediatric nursing. I know she will find it tough but I will support her all the way. However, the one thing that concerns me is that she wears hearing aids. She was born with a cleft lip and palate and has had numerous surgeries, including cardiac ops. She has mild to moderate hearing loss and although grommits worked for a while, her ear drums have been left so scarred that this is no longer an option, hence the aids. She is likely to always need the hearing aids due to an underlying genetic problem. I don't want her to set her heart on nursing if it isn't possible with a hearing loss. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[2waterford]

Hi. My dd is just entering her final year of general nursing in WIT.

With those marks she should be well able to achieve the points required to do General nursing in the LC however unlike in the UK there is no specific Paediatric nursing degree in Ireland. A few colleges offer a combined General and Paediatric degree which I think is five years to complete and because only a few colleges offer this degree the points are over 500.

My dd loves her nursing and thought she may specialise in Paediatric after graduating but in second year did a two week Paediatric placement and said it wasn't for her.

Hope this helps. Ask any questions. Is your dd doing TY.

Sorry can't help with the hearing aid question but Will ask my dd tonight

[Disney1sttimers]

Originally Posted by 2waterford

Hi. My dd is just entering her final year of general nursing in WIT.

With those marks she should be well able to achieve the points required to do General nursing in the LC however unlike in the UK there is no specific Paediatric nursing degree in Ireland. A few colleges offer a combined General and Paediatric degree which I think is five years to complete and because only a few colleges offer this degree the points are over 500.

My dd loves her nursing and thought she may specialise in Paediatric after graduating but in second year did a two week Paediatric placement and said it wasn't for her.

Hope this helps. Ask any questions. Is your dd doing TY.

Sorry can't help with the hearing aid question but Will ask my dd tonight

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That is very helpful, thank you.

She is indeed doing TY as she only turned 15 in June.

She was only ever thinking about childcare up until now as she didn't think she would get the points for nursing. We have had a look at a couple of courses here in Ireland but with the 500 points needed we do need to be realistic. Having said that we are originally from London and are in the fortunate position to be able to look at UK options as well, once I know more about the hearing issue.

Thanks again.

[sam7]

I can't answer any nursing questions, but my DD qualified as a secondary school science teacher, she completed her NQT year last year, this is something I really thought was out of her reach due to her hearing. She got lots of help at uni with her hearing (she is also dyslexic and got help with this), so make sure your DD lets everyone necessary know and is assessed for what help might be available (lots was stuff we never even knew about). Good luck to her.

[PoohBears#1fan]

I've certainly worked with deaf nurses who wear hearing aids over the years, I accept that the application criteria varies and I'm not at all up to date with it, but I would have thought it'd be verging in discrimination to not take someone on because they wear hearing aids?

One very good nurse I worked with had impaired speech as had been deaf since birth, this didn't affect her ability to nurse at all.

Good luck to your daughter, I hope she does get it and I'm sure there'll be someone along who's more up to date than me, it may be worth contacting a couple of universities?

[Blue nose]

I don't work in nursing but in well-being and manage a OCC health contract.

Employers/cilleges have to make adjustments for people with disabilities under the Equality Act so turning her down would be discrimination.

It's working out what she couldn't do with additional support and then providing that adjustment.

I'd say go for it - good luck 👍

[redspottyowl]

My friend is deaf and is training to be a midwife, she has also won a few awards!

[greekgranny]

Perhaps she could work as a Health Care Assistant to see how she manages?

[daftmum]

We have recently had a student nurse (paediatric) on our ward who has hearing aids. We also have a registered nurse who has recently had hearing aids fitted. So I don’t think they will be an issue.
Paediatric nursing down here is very hard to get into with many more applications than spaces available. However nursing and midwifery applications have apparently decreased since the introduction of tuition fees.

[storm]

Ex paediatric nurse.
I worked & trained with staff with hearing aids,physical disabilities etc. Maybe your DD can approach your local university disability support department and source info . I would imagine that disability laws would not permit them to refuse your DD a place on the course should she meet the academic requirements and adjustments/support should be put in place following assessment
The RCN Bulletin dec 2017 has an article about a hearing impaired nurse.
DD is a teacher with a mobility disorder & the university provided more than enough support.