Care of adults with developmental disabilities: Effects of a continuing education course for primary care providers.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of an interdisciplinary, guideline-based continuing education course on measures related to the care of adults with developmental disabilities (DD). DESIGN Before-and-after study with a control group. SETTING Ontario. PARTICIPANTS Forty-seven primary care providers (physicians, registered nurses, and nurse practitioners). INTERVENTION Participants either only received reference material about primary care of people with DD (control group) or participated in a continuing education course on primary care of people with DD in addition to receiving the reference material (intervention group). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participants reported on 5 key measures related to care of adults with DD: frequency of using guidelines, frequency of performing periodic health examinations, frequency of assessing patients who present with behaviour changes, level of comfort while caring for adults with DD, and knowledge of primary care related to adults with DD. RESULTS Over time, the intervention group showed significant increases in 4 of the 5 key measures of care compared with the control group: the frequency of guideline use (P < .001), frequency of assessment of patients' behaviour change (P = .03), comfort level in caring for people with DD (P = .01), and knowledge of primary care related to adults with DD (P = .01). CONCLUSION A continuing education course on primary care of adults with DD is a useful interdisciplinary model to train health professionals who provide primary care services to these patients.