Responding to safe care: healthcare staff experiences caring for a child with intellectual disability in hospital. Implications for practice and training

Background: Children with intellectual disability are vulnerable to adverse events in hospital due to limited staff skills and system safeguards. Method: A systematic review of the literature explored healthcare staff (HCS) experiences in providing care for children and young persons with intellectual disability in hospital using thematic analysis. Results: Eleven of the 735 publications extracted identified the following themes: distress, communication, partnerships, identification, training and education and optimising care. Consistent findings suggest that HCS feel unskilled in providing care for the child with intellectual disability in hospital settings. HCS recognised the role of parents as experts of their child but also feel unsettled when challenged by them. Skills in communicating with the child, developing partnerships with parents, having identification systems to plan for reasonable adjustments was key to improving care. Conclusions: Organisational advocacy, practical skills training in identification, reasonable adjustments and improved attitudes are important for HCS to provide safe and quality care.