"Reasonable adjustments" under the UK's Equality Act 2010: An enquiry into the care and treatment to patients with intellectual disabilities in acute hospital settings.
Marcus Redley, Isabella Lancaster, Adam Pitt and 9 others
PMID 31218787WHAT IT FOUND
Doctors in two acute hospitals said communication and non-conforming behaviour made care challenging.
They relied heavily on caregivers. Only half recalled working with a liaison nurse, and just over half reported seeing patient passports.
Key findings
01Most medical practitioners interviewed described communication and non-conforming behaviour as the main difficulties in treating patients with intellectual disabilities.
02Only half of the 14 participants recalled working with a liaison nurse, and just over half reported having seen patient passports.
03Most participants agreed that patients with intellectual disabilities might receive poorer quality care, and most attributed avoidable readmissions to deficiencies in community services.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study interviewed only 14 doctors from two hospitals, using a convenience sample, so the views may not represent other doctors or hospitals. The findings are self-reported interview accounts, not observed care or patient outcomes. The researchers did not compare doctors with the patients they had cared for, and did not examine differences between the two hospitals. Interviews varied from 15 to 60 minutes and were conducted around clinical work, so they may not have covered all practice details. The analysis took participants' accounts at face value and did not examine how doctors justified their practice. The account involving speech and language team advice is a single reported case and cannot show how often such conflicts occur.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Research for Patient Benefit. No other conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that liaison nurses, passports, or caregiver involvement improve care. The study only reports 14 doctors' self-reported views from two hospitals, without direct observation or outcome data.