From Awareness to Action: Preparing Nurses to Serve People with Disabilities

This episode of Nursing EDge Unscripted explores how nursing education can better prepare students to care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Dr. Suzanne Smeltzer and Ms. Colleen Meakim discuss the significant gaps in nursing curricula and emphasize the importance of integrating IDD content throughout undergraduate and graduate programs. They highlight practical tools such as the IDD Toolkit and ACE scenarios, which offer faculty guidance and simulation resources to enhance student learning. The conversation also addresses ableism in healthcare and the need for person-centered care that respects the lived experiences of individuals with IDD. Finally, the guests advocate for universal design and inclusive practices to support both patients and nursing students with disabilities.Additional ResourcesAdvancing Care Excellence for Persons with DisabilitiesIntellectual and Developmental Disability: A Toolkit to Enhance Education of Health Care Professionals to Provide Quality Health Care to Persons with IDDInclusion of Disability in Nursing Education: Rationale and GuidelinesACE.D Unfolding Cases: Mary Lou & Rob Brady and Patrick and Gloria LakeACE.D Teaching Strategies on Communication and Care Management for People with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disability: Sandy Case Study and Jason Case StudySmeltzer, S. C., Dolen, M. A., Robinson-Smith, G., & Zimmerman, V. (2005). Integration of disability-related content in nursing curricula. Nursing education perspectives, 26(4), 210–216.Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the leading organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. Find past episodes of the NLN Nursing EDge podcast online. Get instant updates by following the NLN on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube. For more information, visit NLN.org.