> Organization: University of Portsmouth
> Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 11:17:32 GMT
> Priority: normal
> Subject: Dyslexia and Nursing
> From: "Gail Hine" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
> Dear All,
>
> Could anyone give me any information on how dyslexia is viewed in the
> Nursing world. I have tried to contact the many nursing bodies for
> information, but not one person will respond to my request. I do not
> want to go on an attack, but I have a nursing student who was
> recently diagnosed as dyslexic and is now concerned that this may
> affect her future career and would like reassurance that it would
> not. If any of you have any information I would be grateful.
>
> Thank you
>
> Gail Hine
> Disability Co-ordinator
> University of Portsmouth
> Tel No. 01705 843159
> E-mail [log in to unmask]
Dear Gail
The issues around dyslexia and nursing emerged at the recent SKILL
conference..it was clear that a number of us were very concerned
about them.
Here at Nottingham we are supporting lots of dyslexic nursing students>
..particularly those on the Nursing 2000 programme and we are doing
some staff devt with nursing staff about dyslexia. The key concern
for staff is the fact that they have to sign that someone is safe to
practice..they are worried that dyslexic nurses may make critical
mistakes with drug names etc.. At the moment I am arguing that given
the variations within the dyslexia clusters it is inaccurate to say
that everyone will experience reading difficulties of the kind
implied. The only way forward is to look at each dyslexic person
individually.... and as a whole person...not as a collection of
deficits.
I believe that the concern expressed above, among academic staff and the view that
dyslexia is the individual's problem/disorder, will largely be reflected in
the workplace and in general I suspect that it would never be seen as
a plus. Hence I always ask students to think very carefully about
disclosure...the pluses and the minuses...as well as how to be
proactive with regard to any literacy practices they are required to
take on board.
I recently spoke to three of my dyslexic students who are here on other
courses but are [or had been] practising nurses... and their accounts of how they
coped made me want to do some more research on this. Needless to say
they were very,very vigilant checkers because they were totally committed
to patients. Until we have much more research which shows how
dyslexic nurses manage to do so well, we will always be at a
disadvantage in the argument about the' safety to practise' issues
around dyslexia.
Margaret Herrington
Director of Learning Support Unit
University of Nottingham
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