Specific standards of care for adults with intellectual disabilities
Intended for healthcare professionals
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Specific standards of care for adults with intellectual disabilities

Tanya Friese Instructor, Community, systems and mental health, Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Sarah Ailey Associate professor, Community, systems and mental health, Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois, United States

Tanya Friese and Sarah Ailey describe the introduction of care plans for this patient group at a medical centre in the US, and an online programme to tutor nurses in their use

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. This article describes the standards, which cover nursing interventions to enhance communication, the provision of safe and accessible environments, and collaboration with and support for caregivers; it also outlines the online educational programme that was developed for nurses to support their implementation and use of the standards.

Nursing Management. 22, 1, 32-37. doi: 10.7748/nm.22.1.32.e1296

Correspondence

tanya_r_friese@rush.edu

Peer review

This article has been subject to double blind peer review

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 23 September 2014

Accepted: 25 February 2015

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