Approaches to Care and General Considerations

Knowledge in to practice: guideline implementation tools

Guideline implementation tools help primary care providers, such as family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, in implementing the recommendations from the 2018 Canadian consensus guidelines on the primary care of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in to clinical practice.

The tools in this section are recommended in the Approaches to Care section of the guidelines and include tools that facilitate getting consent from patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, give tips about communicating effectively, and outline preventive care assessments. Tools such as Today’s Visit and Caregiver Assessment help both primary care providers and caregivers in preparing for a visit to the doctor with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The use of these adapted practice approaches may require more time than usual for a physician visit.

Tools in this section have been updated from tools developed in 2011 by the Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Initiative, a group of clinicians and experts with experience in caring for adults with IDD. The tools are based on research evidence, as well as clinical knowledge and expertise. The 2011 version of the tools can be found in the version history on the tool page.

We are continuously interested in learning how these tools work in practice. For suggestions and feedback, please contact us at ddpcp@surreyplace.on.ca.