A quality network model for the dolly care of multiple sclerosis

The urgent need to optimise treatment strategies for patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was recognised by the participants at the 1998 European Cha rcot Foundation (ECF) symposium in Nice. The 'Nice Declaration' led to the formation of a Task Force Essentials Group charged with developing measures of the quality of MS core in Europe. Algorithms for nine critical domains (disability, spasticity ataxia, pain, cognition, mood, fatigue, bladder fun ction and sexual activity) and 'educated guesses' have been developed to me asure interventions and outcomes which reflect the quality of clinical deci sion-making processes. A generic model called a 'quality network: consistin g of a group of clinics connected to a central server, has been successfull y applied to the core of diabetes across Europe. This model will now be dev eloped and applied to MS management, to provide clinicians with longitudina l epidemiological data end, to evolve treatment algorithms and further qual ity measures. The ECF will next validate the system in a 1-year pilot study using a net of 10 clinics. Finally, on extended European network working i n a learning environment will continuously assess, update end improve the q uality of core of MS patients.