An Audit of Past Attendees of the Neurological Examinations Nurse Training Course (NENTC) and the Positive Impact on Clinical Nursing Management

Background: The MS nurse Consultant at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust (SRFT) identified a gap in the educational provision of neurological examination techniques for MS nurses. In collaboration with Catherine Sullivan (territory business manager Teva UK Ltd), Dr. D. Rog and DR. P. Talbot (Consultant neurologists at SRFT), an education course was developed which includes: theory of neurological examination, case scenarios for taking neurological history, practical sessions which include practice on carrying out neurological examination on other partcipants, then under medical practitioner supervision,  practicing on patients with MS. The course is carried out over one and a half days. It has been accessed from nurses across the UK and Southern Ireland and is accredited by the Royal College of Nursing and the United Kingdom Multiple Sclerosis Specialist Nurse Association (UKMSSNA). It has recently won a QUDOS judges award recognizing its significance in the educational training of MS nurses.

Objectives: The NENTC was established in 2013 with the aim to improve understanding and confidence in the neurological examination of Multiple Sclerosis patients for nurses working with MS patients.

Methods: After each course an evaluation about the course is undertaken by the participants. A further questionnaire was then sent to participants to determine the participants confidence in undertaking neurological examination pre and post course attendance and participants actual undertaking of neurological examination as a consequence of attending the course. 

Results: This poster presentation is the collation of those results. They identified that there had been improvements in all areas of undertaking a neurological examination with no respondent rating themselves as having low confidence. Conversely there was an almost 4 times increase in those rating themselves as very confident. 65% of attendees responded that they undertake neurological examination routinely as a consequence of attending the course with all responding that they felt very or moderately confident with no one rating themselves as low confidence when undertaking an examination

Conclusions: The results indicate significant consistent increases in the confidence of individuals attending the NENTC to undertake neurological examinations. In addition, increased confidence in the undertaking of neurological assessment in routine practice has had a direct change on clinical practice initiated by attendees. These results continue to be consistent.