The first national clinical audit for rheumatoid arthritis.
The first national audit for rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis has benchmarked care for the first 3 months of follow-up activity from first presentation to a rheumatology service. Access to care, management of early rheumatoid arthritis and support for self care were measured against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence quality standards; impact of early arthritis and experience of care were measured using patient-reported outcome and experience measures. The results demonstrate delays in referral and accessing specialist care and the need for service improvement in treating to target, suppression of high levels of disease activity and support for self-care. Improvements in patient-reported outcomes within 3 months and high levels of overall satisfaction were reported but these results were affected by low response rates. This article presents a summary of the national data from the audit and discusses the implications for nursing practice.
Consultant Nurse Rheumatology and Director for Service Improvement, Pennine MSK Partnership, Oldham.
J
J
Firth
Consultant Rheumatologist, Pennine MSK Partnership, Oldham.
N
N
Snowden
Consultant Rheumatologist, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust.
J
J
Ledingham
Director of Clinical Affairs, British Society for Rheumatology, London.
A
A
Rivett
Consultant Rheumatologist, Kings College Hospital, London.
J
J
Galloway
Professor of Musculoskeletal Epidemiology and Honorary Consultant in Rheumatology, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton University.
E M
EM
Dennison
Consultant Rheumatologist, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, Preston.
E
E
MacPhie
Patient representative, Project Working Group, British Society for Rheumatology, London.
Z
Z
Ide
Consultant Rheumatologist, c/o British Society for Rheumatology, London.
I
I
Rowe
Statisticians, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton Universitys.
N
N
Kandala
Statisticians, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton Universitys.
K
K
Jameson
D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000451:nursing*; D054869:Clinical Audit; D018450:Disease Progression; D061345:Early Medical Intervention / Q000592:standards; D004739:England; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses' / Q000592:standards; D012219:Rheumatology; D012648:Self Care / Q000592:standards; D013222:State Medicine; D006113:United Kingdom; D014852:Wales
D018501:Antirheumatic Agents
Audit; Nurse-led clinics; Quality standards; Rheumatoid arthritis; Self-care