{"id":785,"date":"2013-06-07T11:08:58","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T11:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/promotions.bmj.com\/ardsummaries\/?p=18"},"modified":"2013-06-07T11:08:58","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T11:08:58","slug":"do-patients-prefer-nurse-specialists-to-manage-their-dmard-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/rheumsummaries\/2013\/06\/07\/do-patients-prefer-nurse-specialists-to-manage-their-dmard-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Do patients prefer nurse specialists to manage their DMARD treatment?"},"content":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

People taking disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for inflammatory arthritis are more likely to\u00a0be satisfied with their care if they have follow-up appointments with a clinical nurse specialist, rather than with\u00a0a doctor, a study shows.<\/p>\n

WHAT DO WE KNOW ALREADY?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Inflammatory arthritis\u2019 is an umbrella term that covers several conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing
\nspondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. These are all autoimmune diseases that\u00a0affect the joints. This means that the body\u2019s immune system mistakenly attacks the joints, making them\u00a0inflamed and painful.<\/p>\n

These conditions are often treated with medicines called disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).\u00a0These drugs can reduce the joint damage caused by these illnesses, and improve symptoms. People taking\u00a0DMARDs have regular appointments to check on how well the treatment is working, whether it needs to be\u00a0adjusted, and whether it is causing any side effects.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In some countries, clinical nurse specialists, rather than doctors, often manage these appointments. A previous\u00a0review of studies had suggested that people are more likely to be satisfied with their treatment if it is provided\u00a0by a nurse specialist rather than a doctor who specialised in these types of conditions (a rheumatologist).<\/p>\n

But the review had found only four studies looking at this, which wasn\u2019t enough to draw firm conclusions.\u00a0To find out more, researchers in Norway looked at 68 people who\u2019d been taking DMARDs for three\u00a0months. They randomly divided them into two groups, to have regular 30-minute appointments with either a
\nnurse specialist or a rheumatologist. The people filled in questionnaires measuring their satisfaction with their\u00a0care at the start of the study, and then again after nine and 21 months. The researchers then compared their\u00a0responses, based on whether they saw nurse specialists or doctors.<\/p>\n

WHAT DOES THE NEW STUDY SAY?<\/strong><\/p>\n

People who saw nurse specialists were more satisfied with their care than people who saw doctors. And their\u00a0satisfaction increased over the 21-month study.\u00a0People were happier with nurse specialists in all of the areas of care that were measured, including:<\/p>\n