Disability Education for Health Personnel and Impact on Health Outcomes for Persons with Autism: A Scoping Review.

Autism manifests in various progressive, fluctuating, or static differences that may be disabling. This requires healthcare staff to provide individualized, culturally competent care for autistic people (AP). However, staff are underprepared since disability curricula are not universally implemented, which may exacerbate health disparities for AP.

Establishing Best Practices in Telehealth Care for Adults with Developmental Disabilities in the United States: An e-Delphi Study.

Telehealth care is now a key element of mainstream health care since the COVID-19 pandemic, with all types of health care providers joining the digital revolution. As a population experiencing health care disparities, adults with developmental disabilities and their supporters have described variable experiences with telehealth care that contribute to overall care quality and health outcomes. This e-Delphi study established consensus on best practices in telehealth care for adults with developmental disabilities in the United States.

Health professionals' education related to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A scoping review.

Background: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are among the most underserved in an inequitable healthcare system.

Methods: Using Arksey and O'Malley's methodology and a social determinants of health framework, we conducted a scoping review of literature on the state of practice in education of healthcare professionals in the health and healthcare needs of this population.

Results: Searches found 4948 articles, with 182 included in the final review.

Partner Caregiver Resilience: A Scoping Review.

Purpose: Caring for older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) is a significant challenge for partner caregivers (i.e., committed, married, or cohabiting individuals).

Presentation of Depressive Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Background: Depressive disorders are frequently mis- and underdiagnosed in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Objective: Our objective was to identify and synthesize current knowledge regarding (1) the presentation of depressive symptoms and (2) the use of self-reports in assessing depressive symptoms in individuals with ASD and comparisons between self-reported and observer-reported symptoms. A scoping review was conducted to capture the full range of literature on the topic and to identify research gaps.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Navigating the Needs of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities.

As many people with intellectual disabilities (ID) live longer, the need for access to quality palliative care (PC) rises. People with ID realize significant barriers and inequities in accessing health care and PC. The need for integrated disability and PC services with extensive collaboration is great.

Mental Health of Older Adults With Intellectual Disability.

Across most age groups, individuals with intellectual disability (ID) have higher rates of mental health conditions than the general population. Approximately one third of older adults with ID living in the community experience the same mental health conditions as older adults in the general population but have unique needs for assessment and treatment. A health equity framework offers an important social perspective in addressing these needs.

Supporting the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities 1 year into the COVID-19 pandemic: An international, mixed methods study of nurses' perspectives.

As the largest public health crisis within a century, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused long-term disruption in the support systems of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) across the globe. The purpose of this study was to investigate challenges and ameliorative strategies to supporting the basic care needs of people with IDD 1 year into the pandemic, as experienced by nurses who specialize in IDD nursing. We surveyed a convenience sample of 369 nurses from across North America, Europe, and Australasia using a 52-item online questionnaire.

"We Were Absolutely in the Dark": Manifest Content Analysis of Developmental Disability Nurses' Experiences During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic.

People with developmental disabilities (DD) are devastatingly impacted by COVID-19, yet no studies have explored the experiences of developmental disability nurses during the pandemic. In April 2020, as part of a multiple method study, we used manifest content analysis to evaluate nurses' 287 open-ended responses to our online survey question: "What is the of being a developmental disability nurse while encountering challenges to meeting basic care needs during the early COVID-19 pandemic?" We identified four themes: living with fear and stress, helping others to understand and cope, navigating a changing landscape, and being left out. Findings reinforce the need for accessible health information for people with developmental disability, guidelines relevant to developmental disability nursing settings, emotional support for developmental disability nurses, and education of health care professionals about the contribution of the developmental disability nurse in supporting the holistic well-being of people with DD.

LGBTQ Older Adults in Long-Term Care Settings: An Integrative Review to Inform Best Practices.

Objectives: To synthesize literature about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) older adults in long-term care (LTC) facilities and provide recommendations for best practice guideline development to inform practice, research, and policy.

Methods: Four electronic databases were searched in June 2019 for studies conducted between 2000- 2019 related to caring for LGBTQ older adults in LTC settings. An integrative literature review was conducted on the twenty eligible studies.

Technical Standards for Nursing Education Programs in the 21st Century.

Purpose: The Institute of Medicine (2000, 2002) exposed serious safety problems in the health system and called for total qualitative system change. The Institute of Medicine (2011, 2015) also calls for improving the education of nurses to provide leadership for a redesigned health system. Intertwined with improving education is the need to recruit and retain diverse highly qualified students.

Impact of COVID-19: Nursing challenges to meeting the care needs of people with developmental disabilities.

Background: People with developmental disabilities (DD) are a population at high-risk for poor outcomes related to COVID-19. COVID-19-specific risks, including greater comorbidities and congregate living situations in persons with DD compound existing health disparities. With their expertise in care of persons with DD and understanding of basic principles of infection control, DD nurses are well-prepared to advocate for the needs of people with DD during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patient outcomes associated with tailored hospital programs for intellectual disabilities.

Objectives: Hospitals have begun designing programs tailored to patients with intellectual disabilities to address their specific healthcare needs and social determinants of health. This study aimed to determine whether these programs improve hospital outcomes for patients with intellectual disabilities.

Study Design: This cross-sectional, retrospective study analyzed data for patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of intellectual disability and/or autism who were discharged from 5 hospitals participating in Vizient's Clinical Data Base/Resource Manager between January 2010 and September 2018.

Increasing Childhood Asthma Care Appointments on a Mobile Asthma Van.

Children in two communities of a large city in the Midwestern United States have higher rates of asthma than other areas of the city. The communities have barriers to accessing care, including high rates of unemployment and being uninsured and undocumented. A mobile van provides no-cost asthma care to children at schools in these communities, but use of these services has decreased more than 50% over the past 5 years.

Improving Stage of Change in an Employee Wellness Program.

Physical activity readiness of front-line employees caring for adults with disabilities ( = 381) improved during a two-phase project based on stages of change (SOC) theory. In Phase 1, we assessed barriers to, and readiness for, participation in an employee wellness program. We collected data from workers using focus groups and a preintervention physical activity readiness survey.

Evaluation of Factors Related to Prolonged Lengths of Stay for Patients With Autism With or Without Intellectual Disability.

Patients with autism spectrum disorder and/or intellectual disability (ASD/ID) face unique health care challenges. In addition to hospital experiences characterized by fear and insufficient staff training, these patients have 1.5-times longer lengths of stay (LOS) than patients without ASD/ID, and 3.

Steps to Effective Problem-Solving in group homes.

Aggressive/challenging behaviors (A/CB) are a major public health problem for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). A leading reason for psychiatric hospitalizations and incarcerations, such behaviors are costly to the health care system, agencies, and families. Social problem-solving (SPS) training programs for individuals with ID have had positive behavioral results, but most were conducted in clinical or forensic settings.

Improving hospital care of patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

People with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities (IDD) face poorer care and outcomes when hospitalized than patients without IDD. A panel discussion Hospital care for individuals with IDD: The Issues and Challenges was held at the Annual Conference of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, held in Chicago July 8-10, 2016. Among the panelists were representatives from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL and Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ who discussed efforts to improve hospital care of patients with IDD at their institutions.

Technical Standards for Nursing Education Programs in the 21st Century.

Purpose: The Institute of Medicine (2000, 2002) exposed serious safety problems in the health system and called for total qualitative system change. The Institute of Medicine (2011, 2015) also calls for improving the education of nurses to provide leadership for a redesigned health system. Intertwined with improving education is the need to recruit and retain diverse highly qualified students.

Building a Culture of Inclusion: Disability as Opportunity for Organizational Growth and Improving Patient Care.

Administrators at Rush University Medical Center have made a commitment to diversity, including accommodating disabilities in the workplace and for students. This article explains extensive multilevel accommodations instituted by Rush University Medical Center that promote organizational growth and a healthier work environment and improve patient care.

Factors related to complications among adult patients with intellectual disabilities hospitalized at an academic medical center.

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) represent a small but important group of hospitalized patients who have higher rates of complications than do patients without ID hospitalized for the same reasons. Complications are potentially avoidable conditions, such as healthcare-acquired infections, healthcare-acquired skin breakdown, falls, and medication errors and reactions. Addressing factors related to complications can focus efforts to improve hospital care.

Specific standards of care for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID) represent a small but important group of patients who have high levels of hospitalisation, and who are likelier to have more complications and spend more days in intensive care than those without ID admitted to hospital for similar problems. However, nursing and medical staff lack training in the care of people with ID. To address the needs of this patient group, an academic medical centre in the mid-western United States has developed specific standards of nursing care.

Educating nursing students in clinical leadership.

One of the goals of nursing education is to develop caring and responsible nurses with clinical reasoning skills who are capable of improving outcomes in complex healthcare systems. Using the Model of Situated Learning in Nursing Leadership, generalist entry graduate nursing students at Rush University in Chicago, part of a large academic medical centre with Magnet recognition for excellence in nursing practice, are educated using a curriculum based on the clinical nurse leader (CNL) competencies. This article presents a case study that demonstrates how the model is used to provide experiences for learning the CNL role.