Leading Leeds nurse practitioner awarded major research grant
A leading rheumatology nurse practitioner has been awarded a major grant of £108,444 to find out if specialist nurses offer better medical care to patients with arthritis than junior doctors.
The grant, awarded by medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign, will run for the next three years.
Jackie Hill, who works in the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Research Unit, will investigate whether patients with rheumatoid arthritis do better when treated at a rheumatology nurse practitioner clinic, compared to standard outpatient care provided by junior hospital doctors.
The research will involve around 180 patients who have rheumatoid and osteoarthritis who are being treated at Leeds General Infirmary.
Mrs Hill, who is also a lecturer, and has an international reputation in the field of rheumatology nursing, has already established in previous research with rheumatologist Professor Howard Bird, that the outcome for patients with rheumatoid arthritis is better when they have access to a nurse practitioner, also known as a clinical nurse specialist.
"People who have rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis require the skills of a number of different professions to help them to manage their disease and overcome physical disabilities," explained Mrs Hill.
"As the workload in the majority of hospital rheumatology departments has increased, and the hours that junior doctors are required to work has reduced, the role of specialist nurses within the multidisciplinary team has expanded, and many rheumatology departments now employ nurses to manage their own caseloads from outpatient departments.
"Nurses have extended their roles to incorporate some of the technical and patient management skills of the doctor, and nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists are considered to be essential to the smooth running of many outpatient departments."
The expansion of the nursing role in the care of rheumatology patients have been largely pioneered by members of the Clinical Pharmacology Unit, a branch of the Rheumatism Research Unit of Leeds University
Jackie Hill was until recently the chair of the RCN Rheumatology Nursing Forum and last year was conferred as a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, one of just over 100 nurses to received such an honour in the college's history.
