Perception of future nurses in relation to the Brazilian Sign Language - LIBRAS and their future professional performance in the perspective of assisting patients with deafness

The Brazilian Sign Language - LIBRAS is an important communication tool in the life of the deaf and of special relevance when it comes to enjoying their rights as a citizen, especially access to health. Despite the importance. LIBRAS is not yet part of the education of health professionals so that the necessary fluency level for this communication is guaranteed. Like the vast majority of health professionals, because they are not fluent or even know pounds, nursing professionals use as communication strategy: a) gestures, which hinders the process of immediate assistance and help, and / or b) conversation with a relative or companion, which is contrary to the ethical guidelines regarding the inherent secrecy of every human being. Medical care for the deaf person becomes a challenge for both the healthcare professional and the deaf person, since the use of verbal language does not exist and needs to be replaced by another communication mechanism. In addition, LIBRAS does not have several signs in the medical field, so that even with the presence of an interpreter or family member fluent in this language, part of the message is not decoded to satisfaction, which results in negative consequences in the care of this population. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perccption of future nurses in relation to the knowledge and use of LIBRAS in their future profession. Although there is a sanctioned law that guides the inclusion of pounds in some courses, including the study participant course, the data obtained in this study allow us to observe the students' reflection on the difficulties faced in the nurses professional environment in the care of the deaf, especially regarding the information provided by the patient and the understanding by the professional. This study stimulated the identification of problems in communication between the nurse and the deaf patient by nursing students, also pointing to the need for the elaboration of new curriculum guidelines essential to the education of nurses, from the point of view of social inclusion and improvement of care in nursing deafness perspective.