Doctor or nurse? The patients' choice

This project's aim was to assess patients perceived need for a specialist n urse in inflammatory bowel disease. A letter was sent to 64 patients with a summary of the potential role of a specialist nurse. Patients were asked t o complete a questionnaire of 10 scenarios on who would be their preferred provider on the range of issues. There were 35 (55%) replies. When comparin g the results between the consultant and the specialist nurse patients pref erred to see a specialist nurse significantly in four scenarios, and patien ts preferred to seethe consultant significantly in two scenarios. The resul ts indicate that patients feel specialist nurses would have more time to di scuss issues and they do not want to bother the busy doctors with them. But they do want doctors to carry out, the medical aspects of their care.