Aylett, Elizabeth, Fawcett, Tonks N · Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987) · 2003 · DOI
This article discusses what ME/CFS is and how nurses can help patients manage this exhausting illness. The authors argue that nurses are well-suited to be the main healthcare provider coordinating care for ME/CFS patients, because they can build strong relationships with patients and help them feel heard and supported.
This work addresses a critical gap in ME/CFS care—the need for coordinated, compassionate management and patient advocacy. For patients, it highlights the importance of having a dedicated healthcare professional who validates their experience and coordinates their care. For healthcare systems, it suggests an evidence-based model for improving patient outcomes through nursing-led care coordination.
This paper does not provide empirical evidence that nurse-led care actually improves patient outcomes in ME/CFS. It does not test specific interventions or compare different care models. It presents a conceptual proposal rather than demonstrating causality between nursing coordination and improved health outcomes.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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