Working with individuals with intellectual disabilities

[studentnurse1992]

Hi there,

I am currently in my 3rd year of nursing. During the summer I worked at a camp with individuals with intellectual disabilities and loved it. I was wondering if there are nurses who just work with these individuals?

[DDDNurse]

I work for DDD, I absolutely love the work!! The politics, not so much.

[liveyourlife747]

Maybe try private duty? I cared for individuals with ID and who had other medical issues, usually requiring a feeding tube and/or a ventilator. It's 1:1 and I found it rewarding.

[bubblejet50]

I work in this field. There are days I work with lots of behaviors and days I work with high medical needs. It depends on which clients and their level of functioning. I absolutely love it!

[rotteluvr31, ADN, RN]

I am no expert but I think "nursing" in this field is more administrative paperwork jobs as opposed to hands on care given by aides or techs.

This field, like so much of nursing, is also full of diversity. Many positions are more administrative however, depending on where you live, there may be group homes that have nurses working in them. This type of group home would support very medically fragile individuals. There are differences from state to state. Check out the DDNA.org website for more information.

You could also investigate working at the state level, overseeing waivers. There are lots of options. Good luck in this very rewarding field!

[jaynew1966]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site and have just spotted your thread. I'm from Wales in the UK and am in my second year of my learning disability nursing degree. I love the work we get to do during our practice placements. We get to work in many varried settings. I'm lucky to have got a place on my course as there are not many Uni's who offer Learning/Intellectual Disability nursing degrees.

:)

[rotteluvr31, ADN, RN]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site and have just spotted your thread. I'm from Wales in the UK and am in my second year of my learning disability nursing degree. I love the work we get to do during our practice placements. We get to work in many varried settings. I'm lucky to have got a place on my course as there are not many Uni's who offer Learning/Intellectual Disability nursing degrees.

:)

In the States you can get a DD certification once you are a nurse working in the field for about 2 years. I did not know that in the UK there was a separate degree. very interesting! I also love working in this field - good luck!

[jaynew1966]

Thanks rotteluvr31,

I think I'm going to need all the luck I can get. Does anyone know the specific steps for Imogene Kings assessment in her open systems model of nursing. I want to use her model of nursing for a case study of an adult man with a mild learning disability, uncontrolled epilepsy and an increase in challenging behaviour. I've been through her books, nursing model books, journals, the internet and everything else I can think of but I can't find anything that represents a specific step by step assessment.

Thank you