Su1005 Inflammatory Bowel Disease Nursing: Results of an Audit Exploring the Roles, Responsibilities and Activity of Nurses With Specialist / Advanced Roles Within Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Introduction The role of the nurse specialist in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the UK has developed significantly. Audit work has illustrated the quality indicators provided by the role yet systematic review identified the need for clearer role definition and the completion of a scoping exercise of posts and models of practice. This abstract provides the results of the first UK national audit of IBD nursing. Methods Each UK country was represented in the dataset, adults and paediatrics. Inclusion criteria: nurse with a specialist/advanced role caring for patients with IBD. Nurses were identified through the Royal College of Nursing IBD Network and advertising at meetings/nursing press. The audit was in three parts: demographic of the IBD nurse; demographic of IBD nurse service; prospective individual nurse activity over a 10-day period. An electronic reporting system was used to enter data and completed during a 10-day survey period May 2011. Results Response rate was 82.5% (198/240). Numbers of IBD nurses are increasing but fall short of the recommended level set by the IBD Standards. Half of the nurses had been employed for Conclusion IBD nurses in the UK are carrying out significant levels of activity influencing the management of considerable numbers of patients and play a fundamental role in complex medicine management. Roles are exclusively based in acute care and have other GI nursing roles alongside IBD. Recommendations are a review of education and training needs and further national audit of the quality of patient experience in relation to IBD nursing services. Competing interests None declared.