An evaluation of the Virtual Monitoring Clinic, a novel nurse-led service for monitoring patients with stable rheumatoid arthritis.
Int J Rheum Dis
; 22(4): 619-625, 2019 Apr.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30450812
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
To study clinical and patient reported outcomes for the Virtual Monitoring Clinic (VMC), a remote nurse-led telemonitoring service for monitoring Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).METHODS:
Patients with stable RA enrolled in the VMC were followed up prospectively. The primary outcomes evaluated at 1-year follow-up were Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28), Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3), and patient satisfaction assessed using an 11-point Likert scale.RESULTS:
Of the 251 patients enrolled, 186 completed 1-year of follow-up. There was a 2.3% (n = 450) reduction in the annual workload from the rheumatology specialist outpatient clinic as a result of the VMC. Statistically significant improvement was seen in the mean patient satisfaction score (7.70-8.16, P ≤ 0.001), with 61.5% of patients opting for the VMC alternating with rheumatology outpatient clinic visits as their preferred mode of follow-up vis-à-vis standard care. There was a marginal increase in mean DAS28 and RAPID3 scores from 2.56 to 2.78 (P < 0.05) and 5.28 to 6.03 (P < 0.05), respectively. However, given that at 1-year follow-up more than half (72.0% and 63.4% based on DAS28 and RAPID3) of the patients' disease activity had improved or remained stable, and was in remission or low activity (73.1% and 53.2% based on DAS28 and RAPID3), the VMC seemed to maintain a stable RA disease activity for the majority of patients.CONCLUSIONS:
The VMC is an effective and well-accepted novel approach for the management of patients with stable RA.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Artritis Reumatoide
/
Antirreumáticos
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Consulta Remota
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Prestación Integrada de Atención de Salud
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Rol de la Enfermera
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Atención Ambulatoria
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Personal de Enfermería en Hospital
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Evaluation_studies
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Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Rheum Dis
Año:
2019
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Singapur