Authors

1Jenny de la Torre Aboki, 2Jackie Hill

Position

¹Enfermera. Sección de Reumatología. Hospital General Universitario de Alicante. Licenciada en Enfermería. Estudiante de Postgraduate Diploma in Rheumatology Nursing (Keele University-United Kingdom –UK–).²PhD, MPhil, RGN, FRCN, Co-directora del Academic and Clinical Unit of Musculoskeletal Nursing -ACUMeNChapel Allerton Hospital, Leeds (UK).

Contact address

Sección de Reumatología. Hospital General Universitario de Alicante. C/ Pintor Baeza, s/n. 03010 Alicante.

Contact email: delatorre_jen@gua.es

Abstract

In recent years an old debate has been rekindled on the role of nursing in the care of rheumatic patients. The development of last generation drugs such as biological agents and the close monitoring required by these drugs have been the most important reason for the recent resurfacing of rheumatologic nursing. There are over one hundred different diseases of the locomotor system, the most prevalent ones being lumbalgia, osteoporosis, arthrosis of the knee, arthrosis of the hands and rheumatoid arthrosis. Rheumatoid diseases are the second leading cause of consultation in primary care centres and the first cause of disability in the general population. Health Education has proven to be a key instrument for the management of the patient as well as a tool to reduce disease-related costs. These factors have encouraged nurses to open their own consultation offices in rheumatology. Nonetheless, for the time being, no official training and many of these nurses have started their new responsibilities through a structured informal training given by rheumatologists. The continuous emergence of new drugs and the need for further information on the part of the patient with respect to disease-related issues may be resulting in a new generation of rheumatology nurses.
This article is the first of a series intended to present the most updated nursing care in rheumatology and it covers both the history as well as the current state of rheumatology nursing.

Keywords:

rheumatology nursing; biological agents; nursing consultation officehealth education

Versión en Español

Título:

Desarrollo y momento actual de la Enfermería reumatológica