The nursing consultation in rheumatology
Section: LEARNING TO TEACH
Authors
María José León Cabezas
Position
Enfermera. Servicio de Reumatología del Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid.
Contact email: majoleca@hotmail.com
Abstract
This paper is intended to provide an overall view of the reasons that led to the creation of a nursing consultation in rheumatology and the activities undertaken in this office for the care and integral attention of patients with musculoskeletal conditions. These patients need specific healthcare and require a substantial amount of healthcare provision.
Objective: to perform a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the healthcare activity conducted at the nursing consultation office (diseases of the immunological system, rheumatology during the first two years of operation).
Material and method: descriptive and prospective study of the different tasks carried out by the nurse. Data were systematically collected from January 2005 and December 2006 and classified into different subsets.
Results: from the establishment of the nursing consultation office, the total number of patients admitted was 4386, 1825 of these corresponding to the first year and 2561 to the second year of operation.
Conclusions: Since the consultation office was first started, the number of patients has steadily and significantly increased. This increase shows the importance of the activity carried out by the nurse that positively reflects on the integral care of the patient and in the improved distribution of healthcare times, both for doctors and nurses alike. Tests such as the DAS 28 (Disease Activity Score), could not be carried out on all patients. Thanks to the availability of this new consultation office, now the test is being administered to all patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Keywords:
nursing consultation office; rheumatoid diseasesadministration of the DAS 28 test
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