It is rather ironic that practice nurses have negative attitudes to people with ME/CFS, when it is widely believed that Florence Nightingale herself suffered from the condition on her return from the Crimean War, after suffering from a severe infectious illness! Nurses and doctors are also in the highest risk groups for getting the condition in the here and now.
Competing interests
None
CFS/ME: Need for appropriate training.
Duncan Cox, Warwickshire Network for ME
5 March 2009
Given the prevalence of CFS/ME amongst healthcare professionals we were dismayed to read some of the Practice Nurses' comments highlighted in this paper. However, it was also striking that five of what patients will perceive to be the most inflammatory and ill-informed comments were all actually attributed to a single Practice Nurse (no 26) - possibly casting some doubt over the representative nature of this particular paper. Generally though we would agree that there remains an imperative for [appropriate] training, particularly in the field of severe ME - something that initiatives such as the 2009 Invest in ME International ME/CFS biomedical London conference appear well designed to address. Duncan Cox
Practice Nurses and ME/CFS
11 February 2009
It is rather ironic that practice nurses have negative attitudes to people with ME/CFS, when it is widely believed that Florence Nightingale herself suffered from the condition on her return from the Crimean War, after suffering from a severe infectious illness! Nurses and doctors are also in the highest risk groups for getting the condition in the here and now.
Competing interests
None
CFS/ME: Need for appropriate training.
5 March 2009
Given the prevalence of CFS/ME amongst healthcare professionals we were dismayed to read some of the Practice Nurses' comments highlighted in this paper. However, it was also striking that five of what patients will perceive to be the most inflammatory and ill-informed comments were all actually attributed to a single Practice Nurse (no 26) - possibly casting some doubt over the representative nature of this particular paper. Generally though we would agree that there remains an imperative for [appropriate] training, particularly in the field of severe ME - something that initiatives such as the 2009 Invest in ME International ME/CFS biomedical London conference appear well designed to address. Duncan Cox
Competing interests
None