SGIM 33rd Annual Meeting

AADMD INFO BLAST - FOR AADMD MEMBERS

Thank you to AADMD Member Wendy Gray for bringing this to our attention.
Rick Rader, MD AADMD

Hello,

Please distribute this message regarding the SGIM 33rd Annual Meeting, April 28-May 1, 2010, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

There is a groundbreaking workshop scheduled at the National SGIM Annual Meeting this year, focused on patient-doctor communication in the primary care delivery for patients with developmental disabilities. One of the co-authors of this workshop, Paul Remy, has Cerebral Palsy himself, and will will be offering valuable insight as an intellectually intact patient with severe spasticity and quadraplegia.

The first of its kind, this workshop received enthusiastic acceptance from the SGIM Workshop Committee and is open for registration. However, more attendance is required to keep this workshop in the schedule!

Please take a moment to go online

http://www.sgim.org/index.cfm?pageId=832

and register for

WF02 Communicating with Patients with Intellectual Disabilities and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IDND)
Friday, April 30 4:00pm-5:30pm Concurrent Session F

Authors: Wendy E. Gray, MD, Faculty Fellow, Boston University School of Medicine Primary Care Academic Fellowship Program: Department of General Internal Medicine; Deborah Dreyfus, MD, Boston University School of Medicine Primary Care Academic Fellowship Program: Department of General Internal Medicine; Rick Rader, MD, Morton J. Kent, Habilitation Center, Orange Grove Center; Paul Remy, BA, Southeast Center for Independent Living, Massachusetts

Registering for this workshop will have an enormously positive impact on the current efforts of the medical community to improve primary care for adults with developmental disabilities...and will provide you with invaluable tools and insight for your practice. Please register for this workshop today! Even if your registration as been submitted, you may designate this workshop by following instructions at the link above.

The following is a more detailed summary of the workshop:

WF02 Communicating with Patients with Intellectual Disabilities and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IDND)
Category: Health Disparities/Vulnerable Populations

Session Summary:

The challenges of patient-doctor communication are particularly high for the 2-3% of Americans who have Intellectual Disabilities and/or Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IDND), and the price of miscommunication for this population is perhaps even higher. This workshop will serve to educate general internists about patients with IDND's, such as Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy, with a focus on patient-doctor communication. Attendees will learn to recognize communication challenges that are particular to the IDND population as well as those that are shared with the neurotypical population. They will learn skills to overcome those challenges with insight from doctors who have devoted their careers to the IDND population and also from people with IDND's themselves. One of the co-authors of this workshop will present his perspective as a person with quadraplegia and communication challenges due to cerebral palsy. Participation in this workshop of people with IDND in large group presentation and small group activities will provide a unique forum for experiential learning. Attendees will finish this workshop with increased medical knowledge and clinical skills and an increased sense of familiarity and ease when faced with the awkward situation of interviewing a patient they cannot understand through standard communication. This workshop is particularly relevant to today's physician because the number of adults with IDND seeking care in adult health care services is increasing. This phenomenon is due to a number of factors, including the following: 1.) Due to modern medical advances, people with IDND's such as Down Syndrome, formerly considered a pediatric concern, are living longer today than ever before; 2.) Many adults with IDND are currently moving out of residential institutions with internal health care systems into the community; 3.) Modern society is raising its expectations of people with IDD, and optimal health has become a higher focus of this population as they join the workforce and live much more active lives than previously. Another reason this workshop is relevant to today's physician is that many of its lessons are applicable to communication with other patients, for example, elderly patients, depressed or shy patients, and patients with non-intellectual/neurodevelopmental disabilities. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are currently more than 54 million Americans with disabilities. Almost half of these individuals have a severe disability, affecting their ability to communicate. This workshop is designed to provide an internist with the tools to be able to act confidently, competently, and respectfully in a 15-minute interview with an adult with intellectual and/or neurodevelopmental disabilities. Such tools are valuable to all physicians today, as the IDND population increases its use of the adult health care system and as the population Americans with shared communication challenges grows.

Learning Objective 1: The attendees will learn about the impact of communication issues in the care of adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IDND).

Learning Objective 2: The attendees will be able to identify common communication barriers that occur in the course of caring for adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IDND), and how to overcome them.

Learning Objective 3: The attendees will have improved self-awareness, ability to identify and work through any discomfort or awkwardness they may have about working with patients with Intellectual Disabilities and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (IDND)