To make healthcare professionals more knowledgeable about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and how to care for them, Joanne Siegel, LCSW, Karen Bonuck, Ph.D., and colleagues added a 4-hour IDD training program to a second-year medical school curriculum. The program included faculty lectures, panel presentations by three adults with IDD, and the parent of a child with IDD, and 15 small-group sessions with Einstein faculty, medical students, and adults with IDD along with caretakers as needed. Surveys conducted before and one week after the training program found modest but significant improvements in the students’ overall knowledge regarding IDD and their attitudes towards IDD patients.

The researchers concluded that programs such as this can help to fill gaps in the healthcare received by people with IDD. The results of the study were published online on October 19 in Medical Education Online.

Ms. Siegel is principal associate of pediatrics at Einstein. Dr. Bonuck is professor of family and social medicine, of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health, and of pediatrics at Einstein.