Comunicação entre profissionais da atenção básica e usuários surdos

Purpose: To describe how communication happens between primary care health professionals and deaf users. Method: A quantitative, exploratory-descriptive, cross-sectional approved by the Research Ethics Committee (No. 4.048.271/2021/CAEE: 30977420.1.0000.5188) was carried out. Workers and deaf users of USF belonging to the five health districts of the northeastern capital participated in the study, through a questionnaire prepared in Google Forms and sent by Whatsapp. The number of deaf people registered and assisted in the service, the preparation to serve them, the forms of communication used, the perception of their effectiveness, and the observance of the rights of this public were addressed in it. Results: The sample consisted of 30 participants, of both sexes, with a predominant age group between 31 and 40 years. 56.7% of them have already attended to deaf users. Of these, 60% feel unprepared to serve them, 47% used third parties to communicate and the use of LIBRAS was mentioned by one of them. Some training in LIBRAS was an action that would enable them to communicate better with this population. Meeting the demands of these users in the service, in line with the rights of people with disabilities, was reported by 17 of these professionals. Conclusion: The communication between primary care professionals and the deaf proved to be inefficient. It also happens in an improvised way, most often with the help of third parties to mediate the conversation and with low evidence of effectiveness and respect for the autonomy of the deaf person in the health care.