Navigating the care of families with a child or children with autistic spectrum disorder.
Professor Clare HarveyEmeritus Professor Eileen WillisDr Janie BrownAmy-Louise ByrneAssociate Professor Adele BaldwinDavid HeardWendy AugutisPublished in: Journal of intellectual disabilities : JOID (2022)
The aim of this project was to better understand nurse navigators work with children and families who are living with severe autism spectrum disorder to achieve improved health and wellbeing outcomes. Nurse navigators were introduced into the public health sector in Queensland in 2016, with 400 navigators currently working across 16 health services in diverse geographic and demographic settings. Narrative inquiry was used to explore one nurse navigator's journey working with children and families living with severe Autism. The challenges of rigid health systems to adapt to the requirements of children with special needs, particularly in relation to care in the emergency department and where interventional procedures are necessary were apparent. Nurse navigators can effectively co-ordinate the care of an extremely vulnerable patient cohort and provide essential advocacy in a health system that is rigid and lacking the flexibility to deal with individual needs.
Keyphrases
- public health
- healthcare
- autism spectrum disorder
- emergency department
- young adults
- quality improvement
- primary care
- palliative care
- mental health
- early onset
- spectrum disorder
- intellectual disability
- case report
- pain management
- magnetic resonance imaging
- metabolic syndrome
- chronic pain
- working memory
- electronic health record
- diffusion weighted imaging