It was a delight to read the comments in the May 2019 issue of The Rheumatologist on a paper by Hirsch and colleagues, discussing how health literacy affects the patient global assessment.1,2 Patient-driven outcome measures (PROs), patient global assessment on a visual analog scale (VAS) or a numeric rating scale (NRS), a segmented numeric version…
A recent article in Arthritis Care & Research supports the idea that the patient global assessment reflects primarily the patient’s experience of their functioning in daily life.1 Background The patient global assessment is a key measure used by clinicians and researchers to help evaluate disease status in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Lead author Ethan T. Craig,…
Presidential Gold Medal The highest award the ACR can bestow, the Presidential Gold Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding achievements in rheumatology over an entire career. This year’s award went to James O’Dell, MD, the Stokes-Shackleford Professor of Internal Medicine, vice chair of internal medicine and chief of the Division of Rheumatology at the…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—In 2020, terms like unconscious bias, diversity and inclusivity are buzzwords in rheumatology, as well as throughout American society. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed stark disparities in healthcare outcomes for rheumatic disease patients of racial and ethnic minorities, including new research that shows Black and Latinx patients have a higher risk of hospitalization and…
A new disease model for lupus tackles issues with fatigue and other serious conditions that, although quite common among patients, get less attention because they fall outside classic symptoms associated with inflammation, a debilitating force behind systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The model features subtypes to categorize two main groups of symptoms into type 1, typically…
A new study in Arthritis Care & Research highlights potential differences in incidence, the presentation of prominent symptoms and laboratory findings in African Americans and Native Americans with Sjögren’s syndrome compared with white populations. Native Americans appear to be at higher risk of the disease, although they often display fewer of the classic symptoms. Importantly,…
As a health educator at Integrative Rheumatology, a private practice in Charlotte, N.C., Latisha Williams, MPH, CHES, CHC, works with patients to teach them how to better manage their disease. In the two-and-a-half years that Ms. Williams has worked at Integrative Rheumatology, she’s answered countless questions about exercise, nutrition and complementary therapies, among other topics. “Patients…
Some have opined, cynically, that transformative changes will not come to medical education and training, and to healthcare, until pigs fly. Well, in 2009–10, “swine flu,” and now we are in the midst of an unprecedented and disruptive pandemic, affecting virtually all aspects of our lives, including fellowships.1 As someone who started a rheumatology fellowship…
2020 has not only borne witness to a global pandemic, but also to increasing fervor in the fight for racial equity. In a wave of opposition to the systemic racism in the U.S., people have been in the streets demonstrating and protesting against social injustice and have taken to social media to promote political action….
Our hospitals have had their finest hour in the care of acutely ill inpatients during the COVID-19 pandemic, including dealing with allocation decisions fairly and transparently, maximizing good outcomes and remaining cognizant of the enduring ethics of healthcare. The honorable traditions of self-effacing conduct and acceptance of some level of personal risk by healthcare professionals…