Two McGill ophthalmologists in Nunavik have developed an eye exam that uses Canadian Indigenous syllabic letters to improve the quality of care offered in northern Quebec.
It was while working in the village of Puvirnituq in Nunavik that the two McGill ophthalmologists, Christian El-Hadad and Nishaant Bhambra, realized that visual acuity charts to assess sight, presenting increasingly smaller letters, existed only in the Latin alphabet, according to what was reported The Globe and Mail Sunday.
Except that for many unilingual patients, who speak neither English nor French, the use of this charter can be perceived in a pejorative way, since it gives the impression that they are illiterate.
“Which is simply not the case, indicated the Dr El-Hadad, Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at McGill University. The idea is to make them more comfortable in their own culture, especially if we visit them at home.”
With the help of D.r Bhambra, a recent graduate of McGill Medical School, the two researchers developed the first known test in Canadian Native Syllabics (CAS), a writing system used for several Indigenous languages including Inuktitut, Cree, and Ojibway. .
This charter aims to make patients more comfortable seeking care, by adapting it to a more patient-centered culture.