18 April 2023
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our upcoming blog series, which will feature valuable tips and tricks from experts across rheumatology.
The blogs will cover a wide range of topics related to our courses that are scheduled throughout the year. Find out why our courses are a great stepping stone on your path to a successful career in rheumatology and listen to key highlights from speakers who are included in the programme.
In the first of five in the series, we speak to Diana Finney, a consultant rheumatology nurse who has been a nurse for over 30 years and is a key member of the education committee in helping develop resources to support nurses.
Why is this course an important part of the BSR education programme?
It’s important we continue to support our members and our nurse membership is growing well. We’ve had so much positive feedback, we had to limit the numbers last year due to popularity as there was more demand than availability, so we know that these courses are beneficial for nurses.
There's also a lack of understanding of the complexity of our role. The advanced level of practice, skills and knowledge that we have to acquire is touched on in the courses. The more competencies embedded the more demand there will be for these courses and it’s great that we can facilitate these and be the prime providers of ongoing learning for nurses.
There’s always lots of amazing things happening at the Annual Conference for nurses but they struggle to attend due to clinical commitments and sometimes funding issues. These courses are great for nurses who would like to learn clinical and non-clinical skills through interactive lectures.
How will it improve their clinical practice and career?
These courses are linked to the RCN knowledge and skills competency framework which supports personal and professional development and career progression. We can support them in developing and improving their knowledge while also improving their clinical skills at the same time.
By doing so, nurses can identify where they are, what their learning gaps are, and we can provide that education so that people that want to develop their careers to an advanced level, can. They can also apply their new skills to support their services to develop and provide more advanced practice and timely intervention. This means there'll be more access for patients to the right kind of treatment by people that have the skills and knowledge and you're expanding that provision of the whole team.
What delegates can get out of attending this course and what will they learn?
We have two courses for nurses available, one for newer nurses and the other for advanced nurses in rheumatology. The key topics for the newer nurses look at understanding rheumatological conditions, the diagnosis and treatment. But also, delving into how nurses’ roles can exist and the importance of nurses’ roles in rheumatology, and these are all taught by advanced nurses.
The advanced nurse’s course looks at consolidating all these skills and knowledge and ensuring people can practice autonomously and identify other additional elements that help patients. These can be motivational interviewing, helping people to self-manage, and specific skills like joint injections, prescribing, and understanding treatment pathways.
Why should they attend?
We're working towards the course being for nurses by nurses. So, we have invited speakers who are advanced practice nurses, who are experienced consultant nurses who've lived what the audience are doing and that's really helpful.
We also have speakers who are part of the MDT, so that the nurses can see how the MDT will work together. It's always useful to learn from someone who is further in a career you want to pursue and look at the steps it took to get them there.
If you could summarise this course in a few words, what would it be?
The courses are about empowering nurses in their role, to be more confident and to know that they can access education at a level that they need, when they need it, in a way that is easily accessible for them. We don’t want them to feel as though they've got to climb a mountain to find out what they need to learn.