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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Disability, Rehabilitation, and Inclusion
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fresc.2024.1353120

"Pain is not typically taken into consideration due to him being nonverbal"-Emergency Department Experiences Among Persons with Disabilities: A Mixed Methods study in Kingston, Ontario

Provisionally accepted
Minha Haque Minha Haque 1,2Sierra Gaspari Sierra Gaspari 1,3*Nicole Bobbette Nicole Bobbette 4Melanie Walker Melanie Walker 1,2Susan Bartels Susan Bartels 1,2
  • 1 Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
  • 2 Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
  • 3 Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Alberta, Canada
  • 4 School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Our manuscript explores emergency department (ED) care experiences of persons with disabilities (PWD) addressing a critical gap in the understanding within a Canadian context. The scope of our paper suits the Disability, Rehabilitation and Inclusion section as it contributes evidence to mitigate societal and physical barriers in emergency care for PWD. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research compares quantitative and qualitative data from PWD and a comparison group, highlighting disparities in the care they receive. The results of this research were validated by PWD in a focus group lead by a community partner (co-author), providing the lived perspective on the research findings. The results of the study emphasize the urgent need for improving ED care for PWD through quality improvement initiatives that integrate a deeper understanding of disability into medical and emergency medicine education. Collaboration between healthcare professionals (HCP) and PWD needs to be integrated into curricula to enhance cultural humility and to allow HCP to have community-based placements during their education. Overall, the manuscript aligns with the journals interdisciplinary approach, offering valuable insights to inform rehabilitation and health care effectiveness in the ED and advance the goal of building a more inclusive society for PWD.

    Keywords: equity-deserving groups, emergency department, Intellectual Disability, Persons with Disabilities, physical disability, Sensory disability, substance use

    Received: 09 Dec 2023; Accepted: 15 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Haque, Gaspari, Bobbette, Walker and Bartels. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sierra Gaspari, Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, K7L 3N6, Alberta, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.