Impact of a specific consultation for patients with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis on the response to their unmet care needs: a cross-sectional study.

Abstract

20.500.12530/87852As their disease evolves, most patients with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) develop particular healthcare needs that are not always addressed with usual follow-up. To adapt neurological care to these patients, we created a specific consultation for patients with progressive MS in our centre in 2019. To explore the main unmet care needs of patients with progressive MS in our setting, and to establish the usefulness of the specific consultation to address them. Literature review and interviews with patients and healthcare professionals were conducted to identify the main unmet needs in routine follow-up. Two questionnaires were developed, assessing the importance of the unmet needs identified and the usefulness of the consultation to meet them, for patients under follow-up in the specific consultation and their informal caregivers. Forty-one patients and nineteen informal caregivers participated. The most important unmet needs were the information about the disease, access to social services and coordination between specialists. A positive correlation was found between the importance of these unmet needs and the responsiveness to each of them in the specific consultation. The creation of a specific consultation may improve attention to the healthcare needs of patients with progressive MS