Beyond the Bedside: The Broader Scope of Nursing in Neurology

This is the second part of an interview with Jeffrey Hernandez, DNP, APRN, and Bonnie Blain, RN. For the first part, click here.

As the therapeutic landscape in neurology continues to evolve—particularly in chronic, immune-mediated conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS)—the role of nurses has expanded well beyond traditional task-based care. Neurology nurses today are often central coordinators of complex treatment regimens, longitudinal symptom management, and patient education, serving as consistent points of contact for individuals navigating lifelong neurologic disease. Their work increasingly spans in-person and digital environments, combining clinical assessment with psychosocial support, care navigation, and shared decision-making.

In recognition of National Nurses Week 2026, NeurologyLive® spoke with Jeffrey Hernandez, DNP, APRN, a registered nurse and nurse practitioner at the University of Miami, and Bonnie Blain, RN, president of the International Organization of Multiple Sclerosis Nurses (IOMSN). Both clinicians have dedicated their careers to MS care, working within multidisciplinary teams that manage high volumes of patients on a growing array of disease-modifying therapies. Their vantage point reflects not only day-to-day clinical practice but also broader trends in how neurology nursing is adapting to new technologies, research demands, and workforce expectations.

In this second part of the conversation, Hernandez and Blain highlighted how neurology nurses are increasingly involved in digital care models, clinical research, and advanced clinical roles. They described how nurses identify candidates for clinical trials, counsel patients on complex treatment options, and contribute to the scholarly literature through publishing and mentorship. At the same time, they emphasized the importance of maintaining a strong human connection with patients.

The pair also offered practical advice for early-career nurses and trainees entering neurology and MS care—from pacing their own learning and seeking clarification to embracing lifelong education in a rapidly changing field. They also addressed some of the most common misconceptions about neurology nursing, underscoring the often unseen, behind-the-scenes work that keeps clinical operations and patient access moving.

NeurologyLive: Looking ahead, where do you see the greatest opportunities for neurology nurses to continue expanding their impact on patient care?

Bonnie Blain, RN: I think neurology nursing has an incredible, tremendous opportunity to impact patient care through advances in technology, digital care, through patient education, and through advanced clinical scopes. I think we have a tremendous opportunity, but I also think we have a tremendous responsibility to ensure that the things we do—technology, digital care, patient portals, remote monitoring—those types of things do not replace the human connection that we have. But again, neurology and neurology nursing are evolving at a fairly rapid clip, so I think we do have incredible opportunities to improve patient care.

Jeffrey Hernandez, DNP, APRN: I love what Bonnie said, and I don’t have much to add, with the exception that sometimes what may not come out right away is the involvement that nurses have in research. I know that a lot of us are involved in clinical research, and it’s really important to know that nurses are able to evaluate patients, check for eligibility, and identify potential candidates that might be eligible for trials.

But not only that—working off of what Bonnie mentioned—is giving counseling to the patient on all their treatment options, even before they necessarily see a provider. They’ve already established a diagnosis of MS, I think it’s really our job to make sure that they know what all their options are. It’s up to the provider who’s seeing them to help them make that final decision, and that’s really the shared decision-making model: working together to find what best fits that person’s needs. Nurses play a really big role in helping the patient increase awareness of all the many, many, many medications that we have, how they all function differently, and what to expect with each medication, and so on and so forth. I think that’s really important, too.

Bonnie Blain, RN: I completely agree. On the tail end of that—or maybe even surrounding that—is about sharing the knowledge that we are gaining through research and through patient interactions and interactions within the team, in the form of publishing. I think that there is a reluctance, maybe, with nurses to publish their knowledge, but it’s important to share what we can, and there are mentorships available for people who want to get started in publishing.

I think all of us—if you put 2 nurses together—there will always be some form of shared learning, and so I think that publishing and scholarship are super important.

For younger nurses or trainees considering neurology, what advice would you give them about entering the field?

Jeffrey Hernandez, DNP, APRN: [Laughs] That’s a loaded question, because in the hiring process when I hire new nurses or new nurse practitioners, it’s really complex in the sense of all the available treatment options that we have—thankfully—available and how each of them works, and what really goes into making the decision for the patients. Why do we choose one medication over another? These little details are things that you may not necessarily be able to pick up in just one sitting; you have to give it time.

So reminding them not to be really intimidated by the information that’s being presented to them, to really take it at their pace. Pace themselves in reading, pace themselves when seeing patients, in the sense of not stressing themselves out and feeling like they need to know all the answers right away. It’s okay not to know, and it’s definitely okay to make notes and come back to the person who’s mentoring you, or giving you guidance, or that you’re working with that day, to help seek clarification as to why things went left or right.

The same goes for infusions: why you would slow down the rate versus stopping the medication, what to look for, the standard operating procedures, and when to give management for hypersensitivity. It goes for all aspects of clinical care when it comes to MS nursing, and the same goes for triaging calls. I can give you plentiful examples of how this can be intimidating—the little nuances that go into the decision-making. But the most important thing is being willing to learn, being patient with themselves, and knowing that it’s okay to ask questions.

I think the next most important thing is being proactive in your learning. It’s not expected that anyone coming in at this point in time—in this year and age—is going to learn everything right away, but you’re also not just going to sit there and absorb it through osmosis while you’re listening. You actually have to play a part and a role in your learning: you have to read, you have to do prereads, you have to understand what’s going on, and again seek clarification when needed. That’s what I would give as far as recommendations to someone new coming into the field.

Bonnie Blain, RN: I agree. I think that was a great answer. We have built a lot of clinical expertise in neurology and in nursing, and we have high expectations of our new nurses about the amount of information that they need to absorb in order to be able to be independent practitioners.

I really feel like Jeffrey said it right. It’s important not to be intimidated by this stuff, but to engage with the people who can help you to learn, and really to be prepared to be lifelong learners because day doesn’t go by where I don’t think we all have the opportunity to learn something new about how to best care for our patients.

Are there any common misconceptions or myths people might have about nurses in neurology?

Bonnie Blain, RN: I think that’s a great question, and I’m glad that we have the opportunity to talk about it. One of the common misconceptions is that we focus on assessments, that we’re task-oriented, and that we spend a lot of our time with treatments. We do, and we have good expertise in that area, but it’s not just the medications and the assessments that we do.

We’re very relationship-centered in our care with patients. We give a lot of emotional support, and we spend a lot of time doing reassurance. These are long-term partnerships with our patients. We get to know them very well, and they get to know us, and I think there’s a lot of appreciation and mutual respect that goes on between nurses and their patients.

Jeffrey Hernandez, DNP, APRN: Bonnie, I have the same sentiments. I think that neurology nursing as far as misconceptions is that you are taking care of tasks, which is the traditional model that you’ll see in an inpatient setting. But when it comes to an outpatient setting, just like you said, I see that we wear multiple hats. We’re in different places at the same time, and we’re taking care of multiple problems—from counseling to symptom management to just giving them information about medication, sometimes working with them on their navigation of the insurance to get things approved. Again, if they’re in research, explaining certain procedures and policies. So there are a lot of things that nurses do on the back end that might not be front and center for everyone to see, but this is why we mentioned and that we say, oftentimes, that it’s the glue that holds the team together because if you write a prescription, you’re not going to get a response from the insurance in 2 seconds, so it’s going to take someone on the back end to do the work and to make sure that the patients are getting their treatments, that they’re being adherent to their treatments, and that, if they have any questions, they’re being answered readily or quickly enough so they’re not waiting for a long period of time.

These are the little things that come and go that may not be front and center for everyone to see, but that nurses are doing pretty much all the time.

Is there anything else you want to share?

Jeffrey Hernandez, DNP, APRN: I think that, for me, I would probably add or share that we want to appreciate all the neurology nurses who have stuck through the many years of their careers in MS. It’s a really challenging journey sometimes, and I think that thankfully, with the advancements in medicine, we’ve gotten a lot better at managing and treating patients, so we have better expectations and we have higher standards, as Bonnie mentioned, as to what we expect our patients to have and having good quality of life and less disability, hopefully, for a majority of the patients. I think all of that is a team approach that we take day in and day out. So if you yourself, or a colleague, have a nurse that you know, just take the time every once in a while to say thank you for all of their help in helping you manage, or helping you keep your clinical operations going, or managing the patients’ symptoms, or just everything that they do on the back end that sometimes goes unseen and unrecognized. Take the chance and take the opportunity to recognize them, even if it’s just a simple “thank you” or a little handwritten thank-you card. I think that goes a long way a lot of times.

Bonnie Blain, RN: Thank you, Jeffrey. I think that’s such a great idea. Through the IOMSN, we know that there are neurology MS nurses all around the world, and they’re giving exceptional care, sometimes with really limited resources and in rural areas where they don’t have a lot of team members. I’m very grateful for the nurses who have chosen this, and I’m very honored actually to be an MS nurse.

I appreciate my colleagues, and I appreciate all of the support that I’ve been given, and so I feel like it’s a responsibility of all of us to support our team members. Our patients really remember when they’ve been given good care, and so I encourage everybody to find the support that they need to stay well, so that they can continue to give that care.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.