A Wealth of Achievements

Q: Can you describe at least one major change that has occurred in this field since you started?

A: I think that researchers in many areas of medicine have embraced fatigue as an important symptom. About the time I started developing the fatigue instrument, people started listening to patients about fatigue. Pharmaceutical companies started listening, too, and began to look at fatigue as an outcome in clinical trials.

Q: How have you meshed your study of rheumatology with public health concerns?

A: The more I measured fatigue and tried to understand its mechanisms, the more I wanted to help deal with the problem. Physical activity is an important way to address inactivity and fatigue, and I wondered what we could do to provide community-based programs with more access. There are lots of programs like Sit and Be Fit that are available in-home and at senior and community centers. I have been involved with www.enhancefitness.org through Senior Services in Seattle, and that program is available in 30 states. The University of Washington serves as a research partner, and we’ve helped get evidence that the program is helping, not hurting, and improving balance, strength, flexibility, and aerobic conditioning in aging adults.

ARHP Award

ARHP Master Clinician Award

Karla Jones, RN, MS, CPNP

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Section of Rheumatology, Columbus, Ohio

Background: Jones is the recipient of the 2010 ARHP Master Clinician Award. This prize is presented each year to an individual who is engaged in clinical practice and demonstrates outstanding clinical expertise in arthritis and the rheumatic diseases, a description that fits Jones well. After receiving her BS and MS degrees from Bowling Green State University and Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia, respectively, she began working at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Jones preferred working with outpatients, and found an opening in pediatric rheumatology at Nationwide. One of the largest standalone pediatric hospitals in the U.S., Nationwide Children’s serves the people of central Ohio and also draws patients from eastern Canada and Mexico. Since 1986, Jones has provided clinical care, served as nurse coordinator and co-investigator for numerous clinical research studies, been an educator and mentor to nursing students and colleagues, and been a contributing author to two nursing textbooks.

What really kept Jones in this field, however, were the kids and their common adversary—rheumatic diseases. Jones says she’s grateful for the opportunity to have established long-term relationships with her patients and says she would have found it frustrating to work in a specialty area in which this is more difficult because one sees a patient briefly just once or twice a year. The complexity of juvenile rheumatic diseases and the intellectual challenges they provide have kept her engaged in the field for more than a quarter century. The most common diagnosis among her patients today is juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), formerly known as juvenile RA.