Living with Disability Research Centre Online Seminar

Quality Hospital Care for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Presenters: Professor Teresa Iacono, Professor of Rural and Allied Health, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University and Professor Christine Bigby, Director, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University

In this seminar, we launch Living with Disability Research Centre resources designed to improve hospital care for people with intellectual disabilities.

The resources for improving quality of hospital care are relevant to staff in health and disability services, family members and people with intellectual disabilities. They are based on a Framework for Quality Hospital Care developed from our  earlier research.  Our study documented the experiences of 50 people with intellectual disabilities during their hospital journeys from emergency to discharge.

We used evidence from this study and the good practice we observed to develop the Framework that encompasses the 4 interrelated elements that contribute to quality hospital care while keeping the person with intellectual disability at the centre.

The elements are:

• Knowing about systems,
• Informing those who need information about the person,
• Supporting the person through the journey, and
• Collaborating with others involved in the persons health and social care.

The resources depict good practices across the hospital system. They use videos filmed with actors with intellectual disabilities as focal points for learning. There are separate learning pathways for hospital staff, disability staff, family and people with intellectual disabilities.

This seminar will present the research that informed the Framework, preview the separate learning pathways, and report on the initial evaluation of the resources conducted with stakeholder representatives. The link to the open-access website available to participants after the seminar will mark the first step in wider dissemination of these resources.

This Seminar will be hosted on Zoom. lease email lids@latrobe.edu.au requesting the Zoom link.