Unit 1 p2 health and social Visual impairment A visual impairment is when a person’s sense of sight is completely gone and the change is irreversible. However this can also mean someone is partially sighted, where their sight may be blurred or only able to see out of one eye. A visual impairment can be caused by age illness or incident; it prevents the patient being able to recognise people by face, body and other visual elements.
To overcome tis barrier glasses may be worn in some partial sighted cases, and a form of written communication called braille may be used. Braille is created by making indentations in materials patterned to represent letters without actually outlining the shape of the letter. A variety of people may need to communicate with the partially sighted patients. Some examples of these are: * Health care assistants * Service users * Dentists * Opticians * Physiotherapist * Social worker * Relatives * Friends * Occupational therapist
All of these individuals are challenged by te barrier and have to use certain aids and procedures in order to communicate with the patient efficiently and effectively. Some examples of these are: * Braille * Presentation/convocation with descriptive speech * Physical examples to feel English as a second language. A patient which has English as a second language or isn’t very fluent in the language can be hard to communicate with. This prevents communication with a patient unless aids are used. Some examples of these are: * Interpreter Translations * Visual aids * Hand, body and face expressions or movements These aids are used by the following: * Health care assistants * Service users (residents) * Dentist * Optician * Doctor * Physiotherapist * Social worker * Occupational therapist Friends and relatives would not be included in this category because they would more than likely speak the same language. For both barriers any issues, impairments etc. should be written down in a patients notes. Staff in the establishment should be trained in how to use the necessary aids.