Healthcare professionals’ perceptions of interacting with patients of South Asian origin attending early inflammatory arthritis clinics

ObjectiveTo explore rheumatology healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) perceptions of interacting with patients of South Asian origin attending early inflammatory arthritis (EIA) clinics.MethodsWe used face to face semi structured interviews, designed in partnership with clinician partner to interview ten HCPs involved in running of EIA clinics across seven centres in the UK. Data were recorded, transcribed by an independent company and were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.ResultsThree emerging themes were identified that characterised consulting experiences of HCPs. [1] Varied approaches were used in early inflammatory arthritis clinic, [2] Rheumatology HCP’s challenges in managing and delivering information to patients of South Asian origin in early inflammatory arthritis clinic [3] Moving towards good practice: views on managing future patients of South Asian origin in early inflammatory arthritis clinics. Overall, HCPs found that they required additional skills to support the engagement and management for patients of South Asian origin living with inflammatory arthritis. HCPs felt that they were less effective in addressing self-management issues for this patient group and they found it difficult to determine adherence to medication. In such consultations, HCPs perceived their own limitation of inadequate training contributed towards poor consultations.ConclusionFor the first time, our data demonstrates that the management of patients of South Asian origin in EIA clinics is under served. To address this, HCPs have identified training needs to improve knowledge and skills in engaging with and supporting patients of South Asian origin. These findings provide a good direction for future research

ABC Of Rheumatology

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Healthcare professionals’ perceptions of interacting with patients of South Asian origin attending early inflammatory arthritis clinics

ObjectiveTo explore rheumatology healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) perceptions of interacting with patients of South Asian origin attending early inflammatory arthritis (EIA) clinics.MethodsWe used face to face semi structured interviews, designed in partnership with clinician partner to interview ten HCPs involved in running of EIA clinics across seven centres in the UK. Data were recorded, transcribed by an independent company and were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.ResultsThree emerging themes were identified that characterised consulting experiences of HCPs. [1] Varied approaches were used in early inflammatory arthritis clinic, [2] Rheumatology HCP’s challenges in managing and delivering information to patients of South Asian origin in early inflammatory arthritis clinic [3] Moving towards good practice: views on managing future patients of South Asian origin in early inflammatory arthritis clinics. Overall, HCPs found that they required additional skills to support the engagement and management for patients of South Asian origin living with inflammatory arthritis. HCPs felt that they were less effective in addressing self-management issues for this patient group and they found it difficult to determine adherence to medication. In such consultations, HCPs perceived their own limitation of inadequate training contributed towards poor consultations.ConclusionFor the first time, our data demonstrates that the management of patients of South Asian origin in EIA clinics is under served. To address this, HCPs have identified training needs to improve knowledge and skills in engaging with and supporting patients of South Asian origin. These findings provide a good direction for future research

Initiative for quality in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

Psoriasis is a common and severe skin disease. Up to 30% of psoriasis patients develop psoriatic arthritis (PsA), another severe disease that contributes significantly to the burden of psoriatic disease in patients. The treatment of patients with both psoriasis and PsA is particularly challenging, because different strategies are often followed, and considerable resources are needed for these chronic inflammatory diseases. Of note, psoriasis patients tend to be undertreated. Efforts to improve the management of psoriasis and PsA are urgently needed, to incorporate improvement of patient outcomes by promotion of best practice from both the medical and the pharmacoeconomic perspective. These are the goals of the Quality Movement in the USA and of quality management in general. The need for evidence-based guidance on safety, efficacy, overall outcome, and cost-effectiveness is being addressed by numerous initiatives striving to generate practice guidelines, control costs, and optimize cost-effectiveness of treatments. The 2007 Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis's (GRAPPA) Initiative for Quality aims to secure and improve management of psoriasis and PsA, elaborating on these evidence-based guidelines by defining major domains of quality and creating a checklist that identifies physicians who can administer state-of-the-art medical services to patients who need their services