Assessing Physician Comfort in the Care of Patients with Developmental Disabilities in the Northwell Health System 1,2 1,2 1,2,3 Kianna Rojas , Bianca Chandler , Alexis Tchaconas, MD 1Northwell, New Hyde Park, NY; 2Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell; 3Division of Developmental & Behavioral
Pediatrics, Cohen Children’s Medical Center
Background
Conclusions
Results
• The prevalence of patients with developmental disabilities • (DD) continues to rise. Frequency of Responders Grouped by Years Frequency of Responders Grouped by Primary • Prevalence of patients with Down Syndrome, a type of Since Graduating Medical School (N = 53) Care vs. Non-Primary Care Specialty (N = 53) DD, over 60-years-old is expected to double between 40+ Years 0-10 Years 12% Primary Care 1 15% 2000 to 2030. 21% • • Study of resident physicians’ comfortability levels in 31-40 Years treating patients with DD on a scale of 1-6, with 6 being 17% the highest score, was 3.73.2 • Further research is needed to specifically explore physician comfort levels and identify effective strategies 11-20 Years 37% for improving training and support. Non-primary
Methods Anonymous questionnaire built on REDCap and disbursed by Northwell Health System physician department chairs
53 Northwell Health physicians responded
11-20 Years
31-40 Years
40+ Years
21-30 Years
Non-primary Care
Physician Knowledge Levels in Providing Care to Patients with ASD and/or ID Correlated Positively with Their Comfort Levels (r = 0.718 p < 0.001)
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Future Direction Expand educational resources and training programs within Northwell Health to enhance physician knowledge and comfort in treating patients with DD. Distribute questionnaire to a national sample of 10,000 primary physicians. Analyze questionnaire responses of the responders’ opinions on what resources they would like to see within Northwell Health with regards to DD. Many responded about Grand Rounds, more support with case management and social workers, and an available DD content expert to act as a patient care liaison.
Resources 1Videlefsky AS, Reznik JM, Nodvin JT, Heiman HJ. Addressing
Strongly Disagree
SPSS was used to conduct descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation
Primary Care
Very Not At All Not Very More or Less Totally Comfortable Comfortable Comfortable Comfortable Comfortable
Northwell Health physician comfortability levels in treating patients with developmental disabilities are positively correlated with their level of knowledge needed to provide appropriate care to patients with developmental disabilities.
Care 79%
0-10 Years
In your clinical practice, how comfortable do you feel providing care to patients with ASD and/or ID?
Hypothesis
21-30 Years 19%
Statistically significant positive correlation between physicians’ self-rated knowledge levels to their comfort levels in treating patients with DD. This emphasizes the need to implement curriculum and training within the Northwell Health System for treating the complex needs of patients with DD.
Disagree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Agree
Strongly Agree
I have the knowledge needed to provide care to my patients with ASD and/or ID.
Health Disparities in Adults with Developmental Disabilities. Ethn Dis. 2019;29(Suppl 2):355-358. 2Shapiro HFJ, Frueh JS, Chiujdea M, Sillau S, Sanders JS. Education Research: Predictors of Resident Physician Comfort With Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Cross-sectional Study. Neurol Educ. Mar 2023;2(1):e200045.