I98. Nurse-Led Care: Is the Future Orange? Using the Evidence to Maximize the Effects

Abstract

Nurse-led care (NLC) can be described as having the following characteristics: providing patients with a direct access to care, assessment of a person's physical, mental and emotional health, ability to discriminate between normal and abnormal findings, referral to other members of the multidisciplinary team or a physician, health promotion and preventative health care, prescribing and carrying out appropriate treatments. This model of care has been used successfully in other chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, where patients require regular follow-ups and monitoring. In rheumatology, NLC evolution over the last two decades has been driven by patients' changing needs and professional development within nursing and there is growing evidence that this model of care is both effective and associated with lower healthcare costs. Given the developments in the care of people with arthritis, such as early aggressive treatment in early arthritis and prevention of comorbidities in established disease, NLC needs to continue to evolve to ensure that patients' needs are met effectively. Since NLC is a complex intervention and it is integrated within evolving healthcare systems, assessing its effectiveness can be challenging. The current and future ambitions need to take account of the changing patients' needs and outcomes, the evolving healthcare system and healthcare costs. This lecture attempts to look into the evidence and explore the opportunities for maximizing the effects of NLC in rheumatology.