Conversations: Emergency Care​

We shared the H-CARDD snapshot about Improving Emergency Care for Patients with Developmental Disabilities with two experts in the field and asked them to respond to the H-CARDD research findings. If you also have a question or comment about improving emergency care for those with developmental disabilities, register with Portico and join the conversation. 

Dr. Howard Ovens (MD, CCFP, FCFP) is the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He is also the Ontario Provincial Expert Lead in Emergency Medicine and the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Lead for Emergency Medicine.

What did you find important about this research?

The Emergency Department is the health care safety net and has a special obligation to address the special needs of vulnerable groups at times of crisis.  The DD population is one vulnerable group that has been generally overlooked.

How might you use this information in your work?

We have lots of patients with various cognitive and communications challenges, often on a temporary basis.  Knowing the specific disability your patient has allows you to adapt your approach to benefit of provider and patient.

Do you foresee any challenges in using this information in your work?

Changing practice in a large staff is always a challenge! Once a critical mass experience benefit the change becomes self-sustaining.

How do these findings relate to what you already knew or thought?

Many of the suggested strategies are things I've had some experience with at some time, but had not collected into a basket of policy/practice changes in an organized fashion.

 

Heather Campbell (BscN, ENCC) is the Program Director for the Emergency and Primary Care Departments at Quinte Health Care in Belleville, Ontario. She is also the Chair of the provincial Emergency Administrators Group, and is an active nursing representative at the Emergency Department LHIN Lead Table.

What did you find important about this research?

Vulnerable groups such as the DD population who require emergency services are faced with many challenges with respect to the care they receive and are provided.  Health Care professionals such as nurses will benefit from the identified training and resources provided by this research.

How might you use this information in your work?

The toolkit that has been developed through the research will assist Emergency Department Nurses to tailor their approach to triage, assessment, identification and networking with community resources to improve the care we provide to patients with developmental disabilities.

Do you foresee any challenges in using this information in your work?

The roll out of the education for the Emergency Department teams and utilization of the toolkit will be imperative to how well the information is used.  Presenting to key stakeholders and spreading the information broadly has initiated that process.

How do these findings relate to what you already knew or thought?

These findings identify that there continues to be a need to identify strategies to care for the diverse populations that are cared for in or Emergency Departments.  Research such as this assists with informing best practices in health care education.