All Hail The MS Specialist Nurse

This letter in Multiple Sclerosis Journal highlights the importance of the MS Nurse Specialist in caring for MSers and more specifically in avoiding emergency admissions.

The authors looked at hospital emergency admissions in MSers before and after a cash injection which boosted Nurse Specialists hours. The authors claim that there was a reduction in hospital bed usage from 2700 bed days per year (2002-2006) to 33 bed days per year (2007-2012). This is a decrease of 99%!!

This finding demonstrates the importance of the MS Nurse Specialist in providing a holistic service for MSers and caring for everyday problems that may arise. In this case, it meant avoiding hospital admissions which can be stressful, risky and often avoidable.

In our recent away day, it was interesting to hear our own MS Nurse Specialists discussing the challenges they face with increasing workloads and funding instability. The job they do is clearly essential and valuable and they often know the answers to questions which doctors cannot answer.

Do you have easy access to a MS Nurse Specialist?

Have you avoided unnecessary admissions to hospital by contacting a Nurse Specialist as the first point of call?

How could access to MS Nurse Specialists be improved, if at all?

Mult Scler. 2014 Mar 19. [Epub ahead of print]
The value of the multiple sclerosis specialist nurse with respect to prevention of unnecessary emergency admission.
Quinn D1, Bowen A, Leary A.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24647556