MS-Selfie – helping MS nurses to educate people with MS about self-management

21/01/2025
Maria Vega
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MS-Selfie – helping MS nurses to educate people with MS about self-management

If you are an MS nurse who is keen to encourage your patients to self-manage their MS, MS-Selfie is for you. It is written by Professor Gavin Giovannoni (aka Prof G), a world-renowned MS expert and researcher with over 30 years of experience in MS and related disorders. Below are some of the ways that MS-Selfie can equip people with MS to learn more about managing their condition and prepare them to get maximum benefit from their consultations with you and your colleagues. 

Confidence to address the key questions

Before making important treatment decisions, your MS patients should understand the essential aspects of their MS treatment strategy and consider some key questions. For example, can they know their prognosis, and what, if anything, can they do to improve it? The main differences in treatment approaches are explained on the microsite, to provide relevant information for those important conversations with the MS team. 

Guidance to understand the treatment options 

To help people with MS weigh up the benefits and risks of specific disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), there are short summaries about the licensed MS drugs. Those who prefer a deeper dive and more detail can also find a fuller description of each drug. 

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Help with decisions about switching

A patient may need to switch to a different DMT for a variety of reasons:  

  • their MS is getting worse
  • their current treatment has unacceptable adverse events or is complicated by the management of a co-existing disease
  • they wish to become pregnant. 

A very useful switching overview shows the available treatment options at a glance and provides direct links to fuller information

Help with monitoring adverse events

Whichever DMT is being prescribed, it is helpful for people with MS to be informed in advance about the numerous tests at baseline and at regular intervals afterwards. The complications associated with immunosuppressive DMTs vary considerably. Why not encourage your patients to find out how to reduce the chance of adverse events on specific DMTs and the monitoring requirements for the different options? 

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Honest answers to difficult questions 

Prof G tries not to patronise his readers – he explains complex concepts clearly, based on the latest scientific evidence. MS-Selfie microsite articles are for people who want honest answers to important questions. Many are prefaced with key points so that the reader can decide whether to read further. In addition, a comprehensive glossary explains scientific terms that may be unfamiliar to non-scientists. 


Reliable resources to inform and empower the whole MS community

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare provision was massively disrupted; people with MS were seeking reliable, up-to-date information about their disease. This was when Prof G set up MS-Selfie, first as a regular newsletter to subscribers to the blog archive, where readers can comment and ask questions, and later as a curated website. Both resources are work in progress, and new content is added regularly. 

Please explore, consider subscribing to the newsletters, registering for the website and passing this information on to the patients in your care. The better your patients understand their MS and its management, the easier your job as an MS Nurse becomes in working together to optimise their treatment plan.


MS-Selfie is a free service , but voluntary donations and subscriptions are welcome to help cover the costs of editing and website development. 
Stay up to date, spread the word – become part of this MS community!

msselfie.co.uk

About our translations

All Blogposts, e-learning Courses, e-Newsletters, e-Newsflashes and the website content of MS Nurse PRO is originally created in English (UK). 
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We make all translated e-learning Courses available immediately and next, the language review process is started. This review process can take several months.

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