MS Foundation MasterClass 2021 winners announced!
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Dr David Paling, Ciara O'Meara, Anna Hill, Alison Pease and Dr Kate Petheram
Our 13th MS MasterClass completed their Foundation module 2 this week, and have shared their workplace projects with their colleagues. The MS Academy delegates presented a range of different topics, with medication management and digital health solutions core themes amongst this year's cohort.
This year's winner was Clinical research nurse Ciara O'Meara from University Hospital Galway, who developed a social media-directed resource tool for newly diagnosed patients to minimise and discourage the use of 'Google' searches and to support MS Clinical Nurse Specialists with information and resource provision.
The simple tool, developed alongside a focus group of people with MS, provides an overview and links to trusted information sources and social media-based support (fig 1).
Figure 1: Ciara's social media resource leaflet
Ciara states on her poster,
She reported positive feedback from both the MS Nurse Network and focus group attendees, and intends to gather feedback from a group of consultant neurologists, a post-diagnosis focus group, and via a meeting of MS Ireland to further inform her work.
The two runners up were Alison Pease, MS Clinical Nurse Specialist at West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre, and Anna Hill, a pharmacist at Queen's Medical Centre. Alison examined the longevity of virtual consultations for nurse-led MS clinics. Her audit into whether virtual consultations meet patient needs and are a viable option for providing appropriate support shared in her write-up:
Anna developed a process-map of for disease-modifying treatment (DMT) Tecfidera to understand how to mitigate against risks and maximise patient safety after finding a gap in information about a patient's blood monitoring. She shared that:
All fifteen of the classes' intermodule projects are available online in poster format, whilst the finalists' are accompanied by a short video presentation of the work. Find them in our Project section.
- Navigating MS Through The World of Social Media: Steering Away From Dr. Google
Ciara O'Meara, Clinical Research Nurse, University Hospital Galway, Republic of Ireland - Virtual Consultations for Nurse Led MS Clinics: Here to Stay?
Alison Pease, MS Clinical Nurse Specialist, West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre - Process-mapping the DMT pathway to maximise patient safety
Anna Hill, Pharmacist, Queen's Medical Centre
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MS Academy was established five years ago and in that time has accomplished a huge amount. The six different levels of specialist MS training are dedicated to case-based learning and practical application of cutting edge research. Home to national programme Raising the Bar and the fantastic workstream content it is producing, this is an exciting Academy to belong to.