Primary care providers need education and resources to provide optimal care for children and adults with spina bifida

Project ECHO tele-mentoring primary care for individuals with IDD

Background

As the prevalence of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) has increased over time, more youth with IDD will be transitioning into adult care. Individuals with IDD have a spectrum of behavioral, medical, adaptive, and home/community support needs depending on their cognitive ability, behavior concerns, mobility impairment, and/or medical complexity. Unfortunately, data suggests that adult primary care providers often lack knowledge about the condition-specific medical and adaptive needs of the IDD population leading to decreased access to adequate primary care.

Methods

To ultimately improve access to high quality healthcare for individuals with IDD, we created a 6-session virtual Project ECHO(R) (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) telementoring course offered to an interprofessional audience.

Results

We successfully launched this course, demonstrated statistically significant increased knowledge and confidence among attendees regarding six topics pertinent to this population, and had high levels of satisfaction from a diverse group of attendees.

Conclusion

Including nurses, social workers, advanced practice providers, physicians, and case managers in this course made for robust discussion in the delivery of high-quality care for this population. This model is a viable option to increase knowledge and confidence surrounding primary care for youth and adults with IDD.