What is it about?
Some autistic adults and children find the hospital setting difficult to access. There are many reasons for this, including organisational reasons, environmental reasons and lack of staff understanding about how to communicate effectively with autistic patients. In this article, the authors discuss an education programme developed for hospital staff to improve their understandnig of these areas.
Featured Image
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Why is it important?
It is important for hospital staff to consider the accessibility requirements of all the patients that use their services. Lack of access to healthcare can result in avoidable health complications and premature death. This education programme can enable hospital staff in Ireland, and elsewhere, to improve the patient experience for autistic people.
Perspectives
Developing this programme and writing this article has put me in contact with many knowledgeable and passionate people who have an interest in autism for a variety of reasons. It has also raised interesting debates about the evolution of language and the importance of reviewing long standing practices on a regular basis. I hope that it will encourage many healthcare staff to reconsider how they might improve the accessibility of their service.
Geraldine Kyle
Tallaght University Hospital
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Developing an e-learning curriculum to educate healthcare staff in the acute hospital setting about autism, British Journal of Nursing, September 2022, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2022.31.17.894.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
