Clinical leads

Dr. Ian Casson (MD, MSc, CCFP, FCFP), is a family doctor with a general practice that includes adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He has been involved in clinical service, education and research through Queen’s University’s Department of Family Medicine’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Program, Kingston, Ontario.

Authors

Meg Gemmill, MD, CCFP, Department of Family Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

Laurie Green, MD, CCFP-EM, FCFP, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.

Elizabeth Grier, MD, CCFP, Department of Family Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

Amy Hung, MD, CCFP, Department of Family Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

Jessica Ladouceur, MD, CCFP, Department of Family Medicine, Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario.

Amanda Lepp, MD, PhD, CCFP, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

Ullanda Neil, MD, CCFP, Scarborough Centre for Health Communities, Scarborough, Ontario.

Michelle Ross, MD, CCFP, Department of Family Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

Bill Sullivan, MD, CCFP(COE), FCFP, PhD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto; Clinical Lead, Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program, Surrey Place, Toronto, Ontario.

This tool makes it easier for family doctors to provide care for adults with IDD. It identifies important health issues for patients with IDD, in the context of methods familiar to Canadian family doctors: the usual clinical problem-solving steps (history, physical, assessment and plan) and medical record strategies (eg, the Cumulative Patient Profile). It can facilitate strengths of family practice, such as continuity and comprehensiveness of care, communication and the patient-doctor relationship.

It selects from and supplements the 2018 Canadian Consensus Guidelines for Primary Care of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Canadian Family Physician 2018; 64:254-79) based on the experience and consensus of family doctors in general practices who made up the Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program’s Health Check Tool group. The content and process of Health Checks were tested at Queen’s University’s Department of Family Medicine’s IDD Program, St Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team and through the Health Care Access Research and Developmental Disabilities research program.

The tool provides practice tips for an encounter with an individual with complex health issues. It can be used in the context of a quality improvement program for adults with IDD in a family practice. It is meant to be integrated into an electronic medical record. It can benefit from the participation of the patient, caregivers, office staff, allied health care professionals and consultants.

This tool is a merged version and update to the Cumulative Patient Profile for Adults with Developmental Disabilities and the Preventive Care Checklist, published in Sullivan WF, Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Initiative Scientific and Editorial Staff, editors. Tools for the primary care of people with developmental disabilities. Toronto: MUMS Guideline Clearing House; 2011, p.30-41.