European MS nurse survey
Vicki Matthews, MS Specialist Nurse Advisor, MS Trust
Way Ahead 2010;14(2):3
The European MS Nurse Survey is an initiative led by the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform (EMSP) in collaboration with the International Organization of Multiple Sclerosis Nurses (IOMSN), Rehabilitation in MS (RIMS), and the MS Trust. In the following article, MS Trust Specialist Nurse Advisor, Vicki Matthews, discusses the aims of the project and what insight the data emerging out of the survey has to offer.
Introduction
The European Nurse Survey is the first pan-European survey of nurses involved in the care of people with MS and was carried out in the following six European countries: UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, Finland and the Czech Republic.
The four objectives of the survey were to:
- promote the need for specialist services to people with MS across Europe;
- to understand the role of the MS specialist nurse (MSSN) in Europe;
- raise awareness of the role of the MS nurse and identify best practice for education, training and certification;
- identify areas where the MS nurse role can be changed or expanded to improve patient quality of life.
Recruitment criteria
As many countries do not have condition specific specialist nurses, neurological nurses who spent time caring for people with MS were also included.
The group consisted of nurses from:
- UK and Czech Republic - MS specialist nurses;
- Germany, Italy, Poland - nurses who spent more than or equal to 30% of their time with MS patients;
- Finland - nurses who spent more than or equal to 25% of their time with MS patients;
- Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland - nurses who had worked with MS patients as a nurse for more than or equal to one year.
The data were collected by computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) with an interview duration of 35 minutes. The steering group reviewed and revised the interview questionnaire to ensure terminology was appropriate to each country and to minimise the risk of misinterpretation.
| Country | Sample size |
|---|---|
| UK | 50 |
| Germany | 50 |
| Italy | 50 |
| Poland | 50 |
| Finland | 50 |
| Czech Repubilc | 30 |
| Total | 280 |
Preliminary key findings
The role of the MS specialist nurse varies substantially across Europe, with significant differences in the type and level of advice given by the nurse and their treatment related responsibilities. MS specialist nurses in the UK have the highest level of autonomy with the most significant opportunity to lead and deliver nurse led services. UK nurses take the lead in symptom management, medication management, and nonmedical prescribing. Some variation in priorities and key roles would suggest that cultural influences shape MS specialist nurses', or nurses who care for people with MS, work priorities.
There is a lack of consistency across the countries on how the role of the MS specialist nurse is perceived by other MS team members and this may be accounted for by the disparity between responsibilities of the role. Across the different countries, the predominant perception of the MS nurse is outlined in the table below:
| Country | Perceived role |
|---|---|
| UK | Leader |
| Germany, Poland | Patient advisor |
| Finland, Czech Republic | Intermediary between patient and team |
| Italy | No consensus |
UK-based MS specialist nurses also have the most comprehensive opportunity for professional development and education with the best supporting networks but have one of the lowest levels of research activity. This may reflect the consuming process of research ethical approval in the UK, demanding clinical workloads, time constraints and low priority given to research by UK nurses.
There is no agreed international definition of the role of an MS specialist nurse, core skill set or clear entry criteria required to use the title. There is still a paucity of robust evidence on the role of the MS specialist nurse across the whole of Europe.
Ongoing analysis
Moving forward, the study will look at the detail behind these broad-brush strokes. It offers a significant amount of information that might be considered perceptive within the MS specialist nursing community, but deeper analysis and inclusion of the views and agendas of those they work alongside and for, would offer valuable insight into MS specialist nursing across Europe.
- The survey was formally launched at the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform (EMSP) meeting in Stuttgart in May 2010.
A webcast of the launch is available on the EMSP website.
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