When Liz Morasso, LCSW, facilitates a Families Living with Rheumatic Diseases support group at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, she empathizes with the struggles and challenges of her young patients. Ms. Morasso was only 16 years old when she was diagnosed with both systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). She knows all too well…
An integral part of the rheumatology care team, social workers can address specific issues related to a patient’s overall wellbeing. Here are some insights into how rheumatologists can better partner with social workers as part of the interdisciplinary team to ensure better patient outcomes…
Pediatric rheumatologists are in high demand. In fact, a shortage of pediatric rheumatologists requires more than half of all U.S. children with rheumatic diseases seek care with adult rheumatologists, and this shortage is projected to increase. For the past decade, the ACR’s Special Committee on Pediatric Rheumatology has worked to change this by bringing together…
CHICAGO—The session on the topic of pediatric uveitis at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting began with a presentation by Debra A. Goldstein, MD, professor of ophthalmology and director of the Uveitis Service at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago. To a room packed with rheumatologists, she explained, “Most of what I am going…
BETHESDA, MD—Rheumatologists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and from Jerusalem, Israel, have identified deficiency of adenosine deaminase 2 (DADA2) as an important cause of familial polyarteritis nodosa, which tends to present in childhood and can manifest with hematologic, immunologic and inflammatory signs, says Chip Chambers, MD, founder and president of the DADA2 Foundation….
A study published in the May issue of Arthritis Care & Research may be the first to examine the long-term outcomes of childhood-onset lupus, otherwise known as pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a chronic, multisystem autoimmune disease with a highly variable clinical course. Previous studies examined cross-sectional views of damage accrued. According to the Childhood…
The Rheumatology Research Foundation has received a major donation from Audrey M. Nelson, MD, a retired rheumatologist from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The Audrey M. Nelson, MD, Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Endowment in Training will support training awards for pediatric rheumatology fellowships. This generous donation addresses the growing demand for pediatric rheumatologists to ensure…
Although compensation in the U.S. healthcare system still favors procedure-based specialties, rheumatologists have seen a pay raise over the past three years, according to the 2018 Medscape Physician Compensation Report…
Recent research found 41% of pediatric patients with SLE are affected by at least mild disability, with higher pain scores correlating with increased disability. Mary Beth Son, MD, says determining how these children feel and what affects them daily is vital to “identifying targets we can hit as clinicians to improve their quality of life.”
With extensive clinical trial data being published daily, how does a rheumatologist stay up to date on latest breakthroughs? Rheumatologists can leverage multiple online resources to stay informed and apply information to patient care…