NP Competencies: Caring for People with Disabilities

Although more than 60 million people in the U.S have a disability, the topic is often ignored in healthcare professionals’ basic education and most undergraduate nursing programs give little attention to disability during the course of study.  Thus, most students entering NP programs have little knowledge or experience in caring for people with disabilities, despite the strong likelihood that they will encounter them in clinical practice.   This project, part of a larger HRSA grant-funded initiative to increase and improve the skills, knowledge and attitudes of nurse practitioners towards PWD, has established a set of core competencies for nurse practitioners caring for people with disabilities.  In an attempt to ensure that major issues affecting health and health care delivery issues affecting people with disabilities are addressed, the competencies were developed based on the literature and on input from professional and community groups: a Professional Advisory Board comprised of health professionals who work with people with disabilities and a Community Advisory Boards comprised to people living with disabilities.  A review of the literature determined there are currently no published competencies that address nurse practitioner proficiency in caring for people with disabilities with few existing in other health care disciplines.  Without a set of measurable competencies it is impossible to establish sound objectives to direct NP curriculum.  As it has been established that disability-related content is inadequately addressed in NP curricula, faculty in NP programs need to identify strategies to address the needs of this growing population of consumers of NP care.  Establishment of a set of measurable competencies will provide a framework for faculty in development of curricular objectives for their programs.  This presentation will review the current literature on disability competencies and share the competencies developed for nurse practitioners caring for people with disabilities.