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From: The Rheumatologist, September 2007
Features
What Causes Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis?
Imaging studies and kidney problems may trigger this gadolinium-induced fibrosing syndrome
In August 2001, Diane Endicott* noted the spontaneous onset of tightening of the skin over her feet and lower legs. Endicott was a 40-year-old woman with type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus which started at age 10 and stage 5 chronic kidney disease (kidney failure with glomerular filtration rate less than 15 mL/min/1.73 m2 or receiving dialysis), who had been on hemodialysis for the previous two years. This skin tightening progressed rapidly to involve the skin on her thighs, hands, and forearms....
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News
Science from our Sisters
Recommended reading from A&R and AC&R
Benefit of Methotrexate as Adjunctive Treatment for Giant Cell Arteritis Confirmed; Psoriatic Arthritis Patients Without Classic Atherosclerosis Risk Factors Often Have Subclinical Disease
REF Reaches for a Cure
ACR Research and Education Foundation launches campaign to find RA cure
The impetus for this program, called “Within Our Reach: Finding a Cure for Rheumatoid Arthritis” (WOR) is a combination of the current funding situation in biomedical research and opportunity. “The campaign comes at a time when funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been flat or decreasing,” says Dr. O’Dell, who is also vice chairman of internal medicine and chief of the section of rheumatology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. This trend...
Health Information Explosion
Don’t be blown away by online medical information - use it to your advantage
This philosophy is one that the vast majority of physicians have adhered to for years. Although patients can receive educational materials in a dramatically different ways now, printed materials remain the format of choice for most rheumatologists.
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From the College
Coding Corner Question
September’s coding challenge
An established 59-year-old male patient with osteoarthritis returns to the office for a second Aristospan injection in his right knee. He complains of pain in his left wrist that started in the morning and lasted for two hours. He took acetaminophen for the pain, which provided some relief. The patient also indicates that he had been drinking the night before. As a result he fell, using his hands to break the fall. On a scale of 1 to 10, the patient’s pain level is a 6. An E/M of the patient’s...
Coding Corner Answer
September’s coding answer
Annual REF 5K Run/Walk to Take Place in Boston
The REF 5K Run/Walk is the ACR REF’s premier event to raise funds to ensure the future of rheumatology. Since 2001, more than 1,700 walkers and supporters have gathered at the ACR/ARHP Annual Scientific Meeting and have raised more than $300,000 to help fund the REF’s awards and grants program. But it’s more than just an event; it celebrates the amazing progress we’re making together to fund rheumatology fellowship training and encourage highly trained people to enter the specialty.
Sex and Arthritis
Sexuality is an integral part of being human. It is linked to our quality of life and self-identity. Yet living with the pain, stiffness, fatigue, limited movement, decreased strength, and depression associated with arthritis can reduce a patient’s capacity for sexual expression and enjoyment.
Make the Most of ACR’s Job Bank
More and more members are making the ACR’s Career Connection job bank their first choice for job searches and recruitment. The recently updated site offers tools for both job seekers and employers. Visit the career center online at www.rheumatology.org/practice/careers. The new job seeker section offers these free tools:
Engage Patients as Partners in Shared Decision-making
Engaging patients in shared decision-making about their health management is increasingly important to improving health outcomes and quality of life for persons with arthritis and other rheumatic diseases. In shared decision-making, the patient and the provider are partners who share information and determine together the best therapeutic interventions to achieve desired health outcomes and patient goals.
Grassroots: Take Action
Wondering what can you do to effectively promote rheumatology issues in Washington? Here are some ways you can get involved...
ACR Attends AMA House of Delegates
On Saturday, June 23, 2007, the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates convened in Chicago; the meeting’s theme was advocacy. The ACR was represented by its delegate Melvin Britton, MD, and alternate delegate Gary Bryant, MD.
“Within Our Reach” Gears Up for Second Round of RA Grants
The ACR REF “Within Our Reach” campaign is now accepting applications for its second round of RA research grants. The first round of grants (announced in July) provided an estimated $6 million in funding to 15 recipients.
Abstracts Highlight Latest Scientific Advances
The ACR has accepted 2,034 abstracts and the ARHP has accepted 92 abstracts for presentation during this year’s annual meeting. These abstracts will be presented in more than 50 concurrent sessions and three poster sessions.
Art and Medicine Converge for the Klemperer Lecture
Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., Paul H. Plotz, MD, often enjoyed an exciting game of stoopball with friends. Young Plotz took turns beaming a ball at the corner of his stoop, stopping occasionally to allow his father’s patients to enter the front door of his house, which also doubled as his father’s office.
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Departments
A Day in the Life of Marilee Philips, RN
Marilee K. Phillips, RN, is a little out of breath and losing her voice. She’ll excuse herself several times as we talk to clear her throat, but she won’t ask to reschedule. She doesn’t want to say it, but there’s probably no other time to do this interview. In fact, she managed to squeeze it in just before a nursing meeting she’ll have to race to. In the circus of rheumatology, she’s the juggler.
Reading Rheum
Handpicked Reviews of Contemporary Literature
Pain in RA: Transdermal Fentanyl for Treating Pain in RA
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Columns
Mayo and Grady CONNect
A journey from physician’s mecca to public hospital
I was a staff physician-rheumatologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for 25 years. For the last nine years I’ve been physician-rheumatologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, primarily at Grady Hospital. Mayo is a mecca for rheumatology, while Grady is a prototypic public hospital. The experiences at these institutions have been vastly different, yet one has allowed me to succeed in the other.
Avert Rheum’s Coming Crisis
We must build our foundation from within
Last month’s column promised you a solution to rheumatology’s dual problem of a shrinking workforce and rapidly expanding patient population. Without further ado, here is the solution for rheumatology’s crisis that my colleagues and I devised at the EULAR congress in Barcelona: The members of the ACR, through the Research and Education Foundation, should cooperate with stakeholders - patients, patient organizations, foundations, industry, civic groups, medical schools, hospitals, and...
It’s a Small World After All
Global collaboration can improve care
The ACR has a role in advancing rheumatology and the care of the patients we treat both within and beyond the borders of the United States. Collaborative efforts across many functional areas without regard to geographic boundaries pay off for all members and for the profession as a whole.
