Impact of COVID-19: Nursing challenges to meeting the care needs of people with developmental disabilities.
Melissa L Desroches, Sarah Ailey, Kathleen Fisher and 1 others
PMID 33184022WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses supporting people with developmental disabilities report severe challenges securing protective equipment and maintaining routines.
They describe being excluded from pandemic planning despite managing high-risk congregate care. Social and behavioral support needs remain unmet due to staffing shortages and lack of specific guidance.
Key findings
01Securing personal protective equipment and sanitizers was the highest-rated challenge, with nurses reporting that supplies were often diverted to other healthcare settings.
02Nurses reported significant difficulty in helping people with developmental disabilities understand safety changes, which contributed to increased challenging behaviors and emotional distress.
03Several nurses indicated they were purposefully excluded from agency-level pandemic planning and decision-making regarding essential personnel.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relied on self-selection by members of a specific professional nursing organization, which may not represent all nurses caring for this population. The cross-sectional design captured experiences at only one point early in the pandemic, potentially biasing findings toward challenges with planning rather than ongoing mitigation. The study could not determine how many responses came from the original invitation versus those shared through personal networks, making the true response rate uncertain. The paper does not report outcomes for patients or the effectiveness of any interventions, only the perceived challenges of nurses.
Declared interests
The research did not receive specific grant funding, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these findings as evidence that specific therapeutic interventions failed or succeeded. This study reports only the perceived challenges and exclusion experienced by nurses in administrative and safety domains, not clinical outcomes for patients.