WASHINGTON, D.C.—In the next 15 years, it will be increasingly difficult to provide adequate care for rising numbers of patients with rheumatic diseases due to a severe shortage of trained rheumatology healthcare providers, according to the ACR’s 2015 Workforce Study of Rheumatology Specialists in the United States. The full study is available online, and panelists…
Do you want to practice near a highway off-ramp or a supermarket? Where a rural rheumatology practice is located may be the key to success…
For they’re some very good fellows … no, seriously. They are this year’s recipients of the ACR Distinguished Fellows Awards. The Rheumatologist spoke with them about their burgeoning contributions to Advancing Rheumatology! ACR Distinguished Fellow Awards Eric Allenspach, MD, PhD Acting Assistant Professor, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle Background: Dr. Allenspach seeks to understand the genetic basis…
Using social media goes beyond self-promotion, says David Deutsch. “If you can give prospective patients something that changes their lives, they will care about you.” A few thoughts on social media and rheumatology practices…
For arthritis patients who live in farming communities, just getting to rheumatologist Lynne Peterson, MD’s, office in Bismarck, N.D., can take a lot of time and energy. “Because of the shortage of rheumatologists, patients living in rural areas tend to receive inadequate rheumatologic evaluation and care,” says Dr. Peterson, whose clinic is located at Sanford…
Electronic health records, mobile apps, telemedicine, patient portals—new technologies offer rheumatologists more efficiency and patients greater knowledge. Here are a few ways these technologies can aid a practice…
I am a few weeks post-retirement. Having written thank you notes and completed urgent home projects, I swing in a hammock at our currently fire-threatened cabin north of Winthrop, Wash., and reflect. I feel like a young boy while freely flipping pages of a hand-scribed picture book, The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman. She…
Two of the great traditions of medicine are the curbside and party consults. In the former, participating physicians informally discuss an especially difficult diagnostic problem. During the latter, a patient will approach the doctor to ask about some possible medical problem and what they should do about it. The advent of the Internet has brought…
Telemedicine apps used on mobile devices may help rheumatologists connect with select patients, increasing practice efficiency and patient access to treatment…
(Reuters Health)—People may happily, and safely, forgo in-person doctors’ visits after surgery by opting instead for talking with their surgeons by phone or video, suggests a small study of U.S. veterans. Most patients preferred the virtual visits and the doctors didn’t miss any infections that popped up after surgery, the researchers report in JAMA Surgery….