title: Bone care nurses and the evolution of the nurse's educational function: the Guardian Angel(®) research project.
abstract: Osteoporosis mostly affects females over 50 years old, worldwide. The main osteoporosis complication is fragility fractures that reduce quality of life and cause morbidity and mortality. Most patients who have fragility fractures are treated for the fracture. However, patients' adherence to follow-up treatment plans is poor. Therefore, tailored educational interventions are needed to improve medication adherence and healthy lifestyles. In this context, the role of bone care nurses is important, as they can act at different levels of osteoporosis prevention and fracture liaison services, which are secondary fracture prevention programmes implemented by health care systems to treat osteoporotic patients. In Italy, a research project called Guardian Angel(®) was developed to provide tailored education to osteoporotic women in order to improve their disease management and reduce related complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosaria
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alvaro
authors.affiliation: PhD student in Nursing, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pennini
authors.affiliation: PhD student in Nursing, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuela Basilici
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Zannetti
authors.affiliation: PhD student in Nursing, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Noemi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cittadini
authors.affiliation: Graduate School in Orthopaedics and Traumatology, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Feola
authors.affiliation: Graduate School in Orthopaedics and Traumatology, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Agostino
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Ercole
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vellone
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Policlinico Tor Vergata Foundation, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Tarantino
keywords: adherence; bone care nurse; educational interventions; guardian angel project; osteoporosis