Introduction: Individual training for self-injection of disease-modifying medications is a guarantee for successful treatment in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is a chronic disabling disease, which is among the most common causes of serious physical disability in working-age adults.
Aim: The aim of this paper is to investigate the opinion of patients with MS, who have undergone inductive self-injection training to modify the course of the disease.
Materials and Methods: A study through a direct individual survey was conducted among patients (n=50) in October 2016 who had undergone individual self-injection training for medications modifying the course of the disease (MMCD). The used methods were documentary, sociological (questionnaire), statistical and graphical analysis.
Results and Discussion: Fifty patients with an MS diagnosis visiting a specialized commission at St. Marina University Hospital, Varna were interviewed. All of the surveyed patients have received training with a nurse, an MS specialist. More than half of the patients (58%) needed more than three study visits. Nearly 80% of the survey respondents indicated that they contacted an MS specialist nurse, if there was a problem.
Conclusion: All respondents, without exception, consider that they would not cope with self-injection without training. The information about the presence of a nurse specialist on MS who can carry out self-injection training reflects the current situation.
Individual training for self-injection of disease-modifying medications is a new and different need for health care and psychological support that would be met by a nurse specialist on MS. Patients with a chronic disease such as MS and their long-term treatment depend on their own ability to cope with it. Therefore, even greater significance can be attributed to the attainment of a certain sense of security after individual self-injection of MMCD.
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