These are just a couple of examples of our talented ARHP members and the ongoing, cutting-edge rheumatology research. We look to find new and exciting advances in research methods to disseminate to our membership. Be on the lookout for additional sessions at the Annual Meeting in San Diego.
The window to the world for our organization is our website. Our committee is working on changes to our website so researchers will feel more at home. We have implemented some of those changes already, such as providing an easier link to find research from the home page and linking to some of our content related to outcomes measures that was published in a supplement to Arthritis Care & Research.
In the coming months, we plan to seek feedback on changes important to our researchers among our membership. Some of you may be asked to participate in a survey that will ask about specific and general changes to the ACR website to emphasize research. We will also have engagement from the ACR Committee on Research as they have agreed to join us in this endeavor to facilitate and welcome researchers to utilize our website for information.
Enhancing Our International Collaborations
Collaboration between organizations is an important way to maintain synergy, share resources and increase awareness of themes important across organizations. The Research Subcommittee has been working to facilitate our collaborations with our international rheumatology partners. For example, we have assisted the ARHP Executive Committee with developing topics and speakers for two previous joint proposals. One such joint proposal was on patient engagement; Staying at Work: Work Assessments and Rehabilitative Interventions for People with Inflammatory Arthritis was presented at EULAR 2017 in Madrid, Spain, and will also be presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting in San Diego. Another joint proposal is with the British Health Professionals in Rheumatology and ARHP on the topic of staying at work. The Research Subcommittee assisted both the international organizations and our ARHP Executive Committee on organizing speakers and the submission process of proposals to the respective meetings.
We have also initiated a conversation with our colleagues in the Canadian Arthritis Health Professions Association (AHPA) and the ARHP Practice Committee to explore the impact of these differing approaches and models of care on patient outcomes, experience and access to care. This may lead to further discussion of strategies to address rising healthcare costs in the U.S. and other countries.
Promoting Research in the ACR/ARHP Strategic Plan
The new ACR Strategic Plan was recently released, and it outlines the objectives, measurement criteria, targets and timeline for the College for 2017–2022. A major project for the ARHP Research Subcommittee is to align our goals with this strategic plan. For example, one of the strategic themes is to develop a sustained future for rheumatology by addressing research impact and advancing rheumatology research. One way in which this will be measured is through expanding recruitment, education and training of ACR/ARHP students, residents, fellows and early career investigators.
