Effectiveness of Nursing Intervention Program on Nurses’ Performance and Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is chronic neurological degenerative inflammatory autoimmune disorder. It affects the central nervous system, resulting in neurological disturbances. Nurses are the corner stone in the whole care of patients with MS. Aim; to determine the effect of nursing intervention program on performance of nurses and Multiple Sclerosis patients' clinical outcomes. Design; A quasi- experimental research strategy was utilized. Setting: Neurological Department which is connected to Tanta University Hospital. Subjects: The sample was composed of (40) nurses who actually provide nursing care for patients with MS and a purposive sample of (40) MS patients distributed into 2 groups. Tools: Tool (I); Nurses' Knowledge structured questionnaire composed of 2 parts; (part A) included nurses’ sociodemographic data and (part B) involved nurses' knowledge according MS. Tool (II); Nurse's practice checklist. Tool (III); Patient's Standardized Interview Questionnaire. Results: A positive significant statistical correlation was detected among total practices scores of the studied nurses and total score of MS Impact Scale of the study group patients directly and two months post implementation of the program as P = 0.001 and 0.000 separately. Conclusion: There is obvious improvement in nurses' knowledge and practices and thus positive progress of the patient's clinical outcomes secondary to implementation of the nursing intervention program. Recommendation: It is necessary for nurses to participate in in-service training programs regarding Multiple Sclerosis for improving nurses' performance and thus upgrade patient's clinical outcomes.