Arthritis charity sets up rheumatology training course for nurses and other healthcare professionals
Nurses and other allied health professionals who cross traditional professional boundaries and take on extra clinical responsibilities are to be offered much-needed specialised training.
Medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) is setting up a flexible, modular training course, which is expected to start in January 2005.
The arc AHP education programme in rheumatology will involve 600 hours of study, and participants will have up to two years to complete the course, which will be accredited by a UK university.
Most of the study will be via distance learning, and experienced health professionals in rheumatology departments in a number of hospitals in the UK will teach the clinical skills.
Many AHPs such as nurses, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists already have so-called extended roles, carrying out responsibilities once considered the sole province of rheumatologists.
These extended roles involve a high level of clinical practice, including the assessment of disease and follow-up and management of patients with inflammatory arthritis, which have proved popular with patients.
But although AHPs have developed specific clinical skills and expanded their roles beyond recognition over the past decade, they are using skills that are not part of their basic training.
"Most nurses we meet are desperate for good courses which are flexible, local, and not too expensive," explained team leader Dr Karen Mounce, convenor of arc's working party for AHPs in rheumatology which has done an enormous amount to develop academic and clinical prospects for AHPs.
"Many AHPs will benefit from attending these training courses, by accruing validated points and integrating what they have learned into the workplace through a self-directed study pack."
The initial courses will contain core skills and training. It is planned that a Master's level course will be made available in future.
arc's working party for AHPs in rheumatology spent four years defining extended roles in clinical practice, and gathering practitioner and rheumatologists' views on clinical roles, skills and training requirements.
The lack of career structure and opportunities for professional development was partly addressed by arc's decision in 2000 to set up a £500,000 initiative to launch a pilot scheme of three five-year lectureships in academic nursing or related fields. Three senior nurses in Leeds, Bath and Bristol, a physiotherapist at the University of Keele and a podiatrist at the University of Leeds are now in post.
One of the senior lecturers, Dr Jackie Hill, who is also a rheumatology research practitioner at Chapel Allerton Hospital in Leeds, recently completed a clinical trial which showed that patients with arthritis do better in clinics run by senior nurses compared to those run by junior doctors.
The Arthritis Research Campaign is the fourth biggest medical research charity in the UK, and in the past 12 months raised more than £26m to fund its extensive research and education programme.
Those interested in enrolling on the AHP education programme in rheumatology should watch arc's website for further details.
