New patient-focused initiatives set to optimise care for rheumatic diseases

More than 3,600 adults with rheumatoid arthritis from 13 countries responded to a patient-based survey which highlighted the importance of seeking and better understanding the patient perspective, as well as actively encouraging patient participation, to optimise care of rheumatic diseases.

Although many patients are satisfied with their rheumatoid arthritis treatment, non-adherence persists and many would like to discuss and/or change their currently prescribed treatment, but don’t discuss it through fear of their care being compromised. This was the main finding from the patient survey, developed by the RA NarRAtive global advisory panel, which was designed to better understand the perspective of patients regarding management of their rheumatoid arthritis and interactions with their doctors.

The RA NarRAtive initiative is the first survey of its kind to simultaneously evaluate the patient/health care professional (HCP) relationship and communication, as well as patients’ experience and satisfaction with treatment and disease management.

Findings from these patient-focused initiatives show:

• Although many patients are satisfied with their rheumatoid arthritis treatment, non-adherence persists and many would like to discuss and/or change their currently prescribed treatment, but don’t discuss it through fear of their care being compromised.

• How patients with rheumatic diseases and their HCPs highly value patient participation in multidisciplinary team conferences, with treatment plans developed in partnership encouraging greater patient commitment and better outcomes.

• How patients can usefully be involved in updating clinical training programmes by making healthcare providers and medical students more aware of the patients’ perspective as an important step towards optimising care in rheumatoid arthritis.

“Further understanding the responses from this survey will be important to facilitate communication between patients and HCPs, with the ultimate aim of improving treatment outcomes,” says lead author Ms Cheryl Koehn, President of Arthritis Consumer Experts, Vancouver, Canada.

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