Gaining trust has a significant effect on disease management and patient care, according to experts at ACR Convergence 2023. Here are insights into the barriers to that trust and how healthcare providers can develop trusting relationships with their patients.
Improving access to rheumatology care for underserved patient populations is a priority for the ACR, and the subject of a major position statement by the Committee on Rheumatologic Care (CORC) in 2017. According to the ACR’s 2015 Workforce Study, the existing shortage of rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals is expected to worsen in the next…
The ACR’s Collaborative Initiatives (COIN) department develops and tests innovative solutions for complex rheumatology care problems. “All of the work COIN does—programs toward health equity, creating models to increase rheumatology-related capacity in places of need, building bridges with local and national patient organizations—is done on [behalf of its members],” says Dr. David Daikh. Each month…
The ACR’s Affiliate Society Council (ASC) membership has grown from 34 states to 40 since 2015. The growth of the Council is mainly attributed to newly formed state societies, as well as existing state societies focusing on orienting themselves for advocacy on behalf of rheumatologists and their patients. Increased participation by state societies helps support…
The many accomplishments of the past year set the stage for a bright, busy future
ARP members honored for significant contributions to rheumatology research, education and patient care.
Doctors and patient advocates urged the rheumatology community to address the drastic inadequacies in care faced by marginalized people in a session held at ACR Convergence 2024.
Undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD) is a diagnosis given to patients who do not fulfill current classification criteria for named connective tissue diseases (CTD)—systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic sclerosis (SSc), or Sjögren’s disease—but who nonetheless have clinical signs and symptoms and serological evidence of autoimmune CTDs. In 1980 LeRoy et al. were…
Shrinking lung syndrome (SLS) is a rare cause of dyspnea that has been most commonly described in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but is also found in systemic sclerosis, Sjögren’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Shrinking lung syndrome is characterized by a restrictive pattern on lung spirometry, despite normal lung parenchyma, and an elevated diaphragm.1…
Magdalena “Maggie” Cadet, MD, a rheumatologist in New York City, remembers learning about the relationship between physical activity and bone health at a young age. She was 5 years old when she first began taking ballet, jazz and tap-dancing lessons. At 9, she became a competitive figure skater and practiced both dance and ice skating…