title: Care of adults with developmental disabilities:    Effects of a continuing education course for primary care providers.
abstract: 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).
  
  
  METHODS
  Before-and-after study with a control group.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ontario.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-seven primary care providers (physicians, registered nurses, and nurse practitioners).
  
  
  METHODS
  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).
  
  
  METHODS
  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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Balogh
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Yona
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lunsky
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Isaacs
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ouellette-Kuntz
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000451:nursing*; D004496:Education, Continuing; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires