Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education

Flyer ImageThe Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education (the Alliance) and the Ohio Disability and Health Partnership (ODHP) have partnered to improve the disability training that health care students receive. Together with partners across Ohio, the team has developed a consensus on the disability competencies required for health care providers to provide quality care to patients with disabilities and to have them integrated into health education curricula.

Competencies are abilities and attributes that are essential to effective health care delivery. Disability competencies, then, are the skills and attributes essential to providing quality health care to patients with disabilities. Health education programs are built around the core competencies of the profession. These Core Disability Competencies are designed to be cross-disability and interdisciplinary.

Click here to view the Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education.

Logo for Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education. Dark blue text with a large A.

The Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education (the Alliance) is a not-for-profit organization of medical school faculty, nursing school faculty, and other health care educators who are working to integrate disability-related content and experiences into health care education and training programs. Click here for the Alliance website.

The Ohio Disability and Health Partnership Logo. Black letters with teal accents and four cartoon people with various disabilities.

The Ohio Disability and Health Partnership (ODHP) is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded project that works to improve the health of Ohioans with disabilities through healthcare provider trainings, health education programs, and other education initiatives. Click here for the ODHP website.

We asked for the help of medical professionals, educators, and people who live and/or work with disability to help us refine a draft set of disability competencies as part of a Competency Development Committee. Using the Delphi Method, the Committee first reviewed and offered feedback on the draft competencies and the competencies were then revised based on the provided feedback. The revised draft was sent out to the Committee and a second wave of feedback was collected and the draft competencies again were revised. Survey responses about this third draft set of competencies were collected and it was determined that they included what health care providers need to understand about disability to provide quality care to patients with disabilities. As of April 2018, the Competency Development Committee therefore reached consensus on a final draft of the Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education.

Across the six competencies,

  • Over 95% of respondents rated each of the competencies either mostly or very important.

  • 92% of respondents thought the competencies and sub-competencies address the range of knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for health care students to appropriately and effectively address the needs of people with disabilities either very well or extremely well.

  • 84.4% of respondents thought the competencies are applicable to people across the full spectrum of disabilities, including behavioral, developmental, mobility, and sensory disabilities (cross-disability).

  • 96.2% of respondents agreed or completely agreed the competencies were appropriate for use across health professions (cross-disciplinary).

The Alliance is asking for statements of support for the Core Competencies from those whose who would like to see them integrated into existing curricula for future health care providers. You may choose one of the following ways to provide a statement of support:

  1. Submit the online form below.
  2. Use the following template to create a personalized letter of support and email it to us at Zoe.Wenk@osumc.edu. Please note that this template includes only suggested language and can be modified.
  3. Contact the Ohio Disability and Health Program to make other arrangements.

Letter of Support Template (editable)*

Click here to see who else has supported the Core Competencies

How can my organization commit to including disability in health care education?

Please see the following draft resolution that can be customized for your organization.

Sample Resolution on Core Competencies on Disability (editable)*

Core Competencies Endorsement Form

My organization is committed to quality health care for people with disabilities and hereby endorse the Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education. I affirm that people with disabilities should have equitable access to high quality health care. Including disability content and standards in health care education will prepare future providers to deliver appropriate, person-centered, quality health care to people with disabilities across the lifespan. I affirm that the Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education captures the standards that are critical to providing quality health care for people with disabilities.

  • MM slash DD slash YYYY

Please visit the link below to access the Competencies Resource Toolkit.

Toolkit to help make the case for organizational support

What are people saying about the Core Competencies?

“Adopting interprofessional collaborative practice competencies in health education programs will prepare students to work effectively as part of interprofessional teams to improve care for those with disabilities” 

“Core Competencies are complete and thoroughly reflect the unique needs of individuals with disabilities accessing the health care system” 

My organization has formally supported the Competencies. What’s next?

We encourage those who have supported disability education for future health care providers to share this information with their employees, partners, stakeholders, or others through an announcement or press release. You may use the suggested language contained in the following document or customize your own announcement.

Organizational announcement- Competencies Promise to Reduce Health Care Disparities for Millions of Americans with Disabilities (download)

The Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education are supported by: 

Many logos showing the local and national organizations who have shown support for the Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education.

Contact us at Zoe.Wenk@osumc.edu if you have questions about this project or need accommodations to fully participate in this activity.