Nursing and Asperger's Syndrome

I did home health as an LVN for a while and had a patient who was highly functioning and had Asbergers. She was extremely unempathetic to her caregivers. She was very intelligent in a few areas, but after being with her for such a long time, it was more like talking with a 12 year old. I cannot imagine her being responsible for anyone else. The way she talked about the sudden death of her dog was almost inhuman.

I worked in an urgent care after doing home health. I had plenty of anxious patients there, but the visits were short. Now I work on a tele floor and I am amazed at how many patients we have with underlying psych conditions. Managing their care for 12 hours has been one of my biggest challenges as a new RN.

I am concerned about the two students above with Asbergers who want to be RNs. I guess it would depend on the degree of severity and also what kind of nursing they want to do. Even in the ER where in theory the visits should be short, nurses often have very difficult patients they have to take care of for hours and hours because there are no psych or medical beds available.

There are other positions in healthcare that do not require as much therapeutic use of self as an RN does. Xray techs, ultrasound techs, dietary, speech, RT, PT, OT. They all have patient contact but for much shorter periods of time. I would encourage your students to consider these as well.

Goldenfire5
Please do not make assumptions on the abilities of those with AS/ASD/HFA based on your limited exposure to the disorder. While there is no cure, there are ways of coping with the widely varying characteristics and some people with the diagnosis would potentially do a fantastic job as a nurse. There are plenty of people who do not have the diagnosis who are not suited for the profession.

Maybe she should see if she can shadow a nurse for a day to see if it is something she is comfortable with doing. I know for my son who has Asperger's just looking someone in the eyes in impossible for him. How would she get past the basic patient assessment if she has a similar trait? But your friend is already an EMT so maybe she is very comfortable in the health care setting.

L8RNN

You're right, my personal experience with people with this disorder is very limited. But I will admit my bias and say that my view of the disorder is very colored by my experience.

In any case, I didn't say that people with the disorder couldn't be nurses. I said I was concerned, and that "I guess it would depend on the degree of severity [and I should have said how it manifests] and also what kind of nursing they want to do."

There are lots of opportunities in healthcare. Nursing is well-known, but some other important roles are not. For someone just beginning to enter the field, those roles deserve consideration too, especially in this economy where so many nurses are having a hard time finding jobs.