Attitudes of Nurses Caring for Children with Disabilities

The Institute of Medicine (2003) challenged all healthcare professions to adopt curricula content focused on the current healthcare needs in the United States. Many medical schools and schools of health professions struggle to implement this challenge. The Surgeon General has identified children with disabilities as a vulnerable and disenfranchised group relating to health prevention, promotion, and treatment usage. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded an initiative, Quality and Safety in Education for Nurses (2007), to close the gap between nursing education and practice, focused on knowledge, attitudes, and skills for nurses. Attitudinal barriers are the most recognized impediment to health care for children with disabilities [1]. Attitudes of nurses play a pivotal role in the care of children with disabilities and their families. Diminutive attention is furnished to disability education in undergraduate nursing curriculum in the United States. International healthcare researchers have suggested that education affects the attitudes of healthcare professional students, therefore affecting patient care outcomes [2]. Disability education warrants position in nursing curriculum in the United States.