Autistic nurses: do they exist?

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Hedlund, Å. (2023). Autistic nurses: do they exist? British Journal of Nursing, 32(4), 210-214. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2023.32.4.210

Publication date: 23 Feb 2023 Added to AutiHub: 22 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Åsa Hedlund *

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder is an increasing diagnosis on a global scale. Despite limitations related to the diagnosis, many people with autism are active in the workforce, often within the health care sector. It is reasonable to assume that some of those are nurses. There are very few examples of nurses with autism in the literature, mostly in non-scientific contexts, and that these mention both autism-related strengths and limitations at work. A conclusion is that research about nurses with autism is almost non-existent, and it is high time to conduct explorative research in this area. If employers are given the knowledge and the ability to support the needs of nurses with autism, it is likely to benefit the health of the individual nurse, the psychosocial working climate and patient safety.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 18:15.

Cited references
19
With a DOI
17
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
2
0 / 19 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 19 (10.5%)
References with detected author names
18 / 19 (94.7%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
2
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
67
From DOI or external metadata
67
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
22 / 67 (32.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 45 / 67 (67.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 67 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 0 / 22 (0.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 51 (0.0%).
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    OpenCitations