Alternate Level of Care
The H-CARDD team conducted a cross-sectoral project to define the principles and core components essential for successfully transitioning alternate level of care patients with a dual diagnosis from hospitals into community settings. Resources include a practice guidance report, Health Quality Ontario Placemat, and a collection of stories from adults with dual diagnosis and their families about their experience of successfully transitioning to community after an ALC hospitalization. Learn more about this project.
Primary Care
In close collaboration with the Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program, H-CARDD developed a Toolkit for Implementing Health Checks for Adults with Developmental Disabilities. This toolkit provides primary care providers with tools and resources to support the provision of health checks for patients with developmental disabilities.
You may also be interested in Caring for your adult patients with developmental disabilities: Tools for completing a DD health check - Brief guide.
Emergency Care
The toolkit Improving Emergency Care for Adults with Developmental Disabilities is a resource developed by H-CARDD in collaboration with three emergency care teams in Ontario. In this toolkit we share implementation tools with emergency providers who are interested in improving the care provided to patients with developmental disabilities.
You may also want to check similar resources for physicians created by The Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability, Australia.
The Nuts and Bolts of Health Care Toolkit
The Nuts and Bolts of Health Care Toolkit is a great source of important information for health care providers to help improve communication with the patient and the staff. The tools also help to identify all of the health issues to address, and generally improved the quality of the health care visit.
The Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program
The Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program at Surrey Place (Toronto) has brought together clinicians with expertise in the care of adults with developmental disabilities (DD) to improve primary care and quality of life for these persons. They developed tools for primary care providers, including physical health tools, health watch tables, a behavioral and mental health toolbox, and general information about caring for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Curriculum of Caring
The Curriculum of Caring, developed at McMaster University, is aimed at helping health care professionals effectively care for people affected by developmental disabilities. It has been developed for health care learners and practitioners through many partnerships and in collaboration with individuals with developmental disabilities. It features:
- Voices of experience: People affected by disabilities and caregivers sharing their perspectives and wisdom
- Clinical skills primer with video illustrations of how to interview with care
- Links to resources
People with developmental disabilities may have more difficulties communicating their needs or remembering specific details about the health care visit. You can use one of a few communication tools available on our website.