Rheumatologists' guideline adherence in rheumatoid arthritis: a randomised controlled study on electronic decision support, education and feedback.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of education, feedback and a computerised decision support system (CDSS) versus education and feedback alone on rheumatologists' rheumatoid arthritis (RA) guideline adherence. METHODS: A single-centre, randomised controlled pilot study was performed among clinicians (rheumatologists, residents and physician assistants; n=20) working at the study centre, with a 1:1 randomisation of included clinicians. A standardized sum score (SSS) on guideline adherence was used as the primary outcome (patient level). The SSS was calculated from 13 dichotomous indicators on quality of RA monitoring, treatment and follow-up. The randomised controlled design was combined with a before-after design in the control group to assess the effect education and feedback alone. RESULTS: Twenty clinicians (mean age 44.3±10.9 years; 55% female) and 990 patients (mean age 62 ± 13 years; 69% female; 72% rheumatoid factor and/or anti-CCP positive) were included. Addition of CDSS to education and feedback did not result in significant better quality of RA care than education and feedback alone (SSS difference 0.02; 95%-CI -0.04 to 0.08; p=0.60). However, before/after comparison showed that education and feedback alone resulted in a significant increase in the SSS from 0.58 to 0.64 (difference 0.06; 95%-CI 0.02 to 0.11; p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that CDSS did not have added value with regard to guideline adherence, whereas education and feedback can lead to a small but significant improvement of guideline adherence.

The effects of an educational meeting and subsequent computer reminders on the ordering of laboratory tests by rheumatologists: an interrupted time series analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effects of an educational meeting and subsequent computer reminders on the number of ordered laboratory tests. METHODS: Using interrupted time series analysis we assessed whether trends in the number of laboratory tests ordered by rheumatologists between September 2012 and September 2015 at the Sint Maartenskliniek (the Netherlands) changed following an educational meeting (September 2013) and the introduction of computer reminders into the Computerised Physician Order Entry System (July 2014). The analyses were done for the set of tests on which both interventions had focussed (intervention tests; complement, cryoglobulins, immunoglobins, myeloma protein) and a set of control tests unrelated to the interventions (alanine transferase, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide, C-reactive protein, creatine, haemoglobin, leukocytes, mean corpuscular volume, rheumatoid factor and thrombocytes). RESULTS: At the start of the study, 101 intervention tests and 7660 control tests were ordered per month by the rheumatologists. After the educational meeting, both the level and trend of ordered intervention and control tests did not change significantly. After implementation of the reminders, the level of ordered intervention tests decreased by 85.0 tests (95%-CI -133.3 to -36.8, p<0.01), the level of control tests did not change following the introduction of reminders. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, an educational meeting alone was not effective in decreasing the number of ordered intervention tests, but the combination with computer reminders did result in a large decrease of those tests. Therefore, we recommend using computer reminders in addition to education if reduction of inappropriate test use is aimed for.

The value of routine creatine kinase and thyroid stimulating hormone testing in patients with suspected fibromyalgia: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine the prevalence of abnormal creatine kinase (CK) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) values and previously unknown myopathy or thyroid disease in patients with suspected FM syndrome (FMS). METHODS: All adult patients with suspected FMS referred to the study hospital between November 2011 and April 2014 could participate. Patients with a history of myopathy or a previous diagnosis of thyroid disorder were excluded. Outcome measures were the percentages of abnormal CK and TSH values and the final diagnosis in those patients. RESULTS: Three hundred and seventy-three patients were included in this study (94% female, mean age 42 years). Of these patients, 7.5% (95% CI: 5.2, 10.6%) had an abnormal CK according to the local reference values. Applying the European Federation of the Neurological Societies guideline, this changed to 0.5% (95% CI: 0.2, 1.9%). In none of these patients was hyperCKaemia-related myopathy diagnosed, and the final diagnosis was FMS in 89% of the patients. Of the total number of patients, 3.5% (95% CI: 2.1, 5.9%) had an elevated TSH and 1.4% (95 CI: 0.6, 3.1%) a lowered TSH, with one patient having a somewhat lowered free thyroid hormone level. The final diagnosis was FMS in all these patients. CONCLUSION: Abnormal CK and TSH values are rare in patients with suspected FMS and do not result in an alternative diagnosis. Therefore, it seems that routine testing of CK and TSH levels in patients with suspected FMS referred to secondary care does not contribute to the diagnostic process.

Gender and the treatment of immune-mediated chronic inflammatory diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis: an observational study.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and psoriasis are immune-mediated inflammatory diseases with similarities in pathophysiology, and all can be treated with similar biological agents. Previous studies have shown that there are gender differences with regard to disease characteristics in RA and IBD, with women generally having worse scores on pain and quality of life measurements. The relationship is less clear for psoriasis. Because treatment differences between men and women could explain the dissimilarities, we investigated gender differences in the disease characteristics before treatment initiation and in the biologic treatment prescribed. METHODS: Data on patients with RA or IBD were collected from two registries in which patients treated with biologic medication were enrolled. Basic demographic data and disease activity parameters were collected from a time point just before the initiation of the biologic treatment. For patients with psoriasis, the data were taken from the 2010 annual report of the Swedish Psoriasis Register for systemic treatment, which included also non-biologic treatment. For all three diseases, the prescribed treatment and disease characteristics were compared between men and women. RESULTS: In total, 4493 adult patients were included in the study (1912 with RA, 131 with IBD, and 2450 with psoriasis). Most of the treated patients with RA were women, whereas most of the patients with IBD or psoriasis were men. There were no significant differences between men and women in the choice of biologics. At treatment start, significant gender differences were seen in the subjective disease measurements for both RA and psoriasis, with women having higher (that is, worse) scores than men. No differences in objective measurements were found for RA, but for psoriasis men had higher (that is, worse) scores for objective disease activity measures. A similar trend to RA was seen in IBD. CONCLUSIONS: Women with RA or psoriasis scored significantly higher on subjective, but not on objective, disease activity measures than men, and the same trend was seen in IBD. This indicates that at the same level of treatment, the disease has a greater effect in women. These findings might suggest that in all three diseases, subjective measures are discounted to some extent in the therapeutic decision-making process, which could indicate undertreatment in female patients.

Choosing Wisely in Daily Practice: An Intervention Study on Antinuclear Antibody Testing by Rheumatologists.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a simple intervention on antinuclear antibody (ANA) test overuse by rheumatologists. METHODS: This was an explorative, pragmatic, before-and-after, controlled implementation study among rheumatologists working at 3 rheumatology departments in secondary and tertiary care centers in The Netherlands. The intervention was given in all study centers separately and combined education with feedback. Six outcome measures describe the intervention effects: the ANA/new patient ratio (APR), difference with the target APR, percentage of positive ANA tests, percentage of repeated ANA testing, percentage of ANA-associated diseases, and APR variation between rheumatologists. Outcomes were compared between the pre- and postintervention period (both 12 months) using (multilevel) logistic regression or F testing. Results are reported together for centers 1 and 2, and separately for center 3, because ANA tests could not be linked to an individual rheumatologist in center 3. RESULTS: The APR decreased from 0.37 to 0.11 after the intervention in centers 1 and 2 (odds ratio [OR] 0.19, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.17-0.22, P < 0.001) and from 0.45 to 0.30 in center 3 (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.45-0.62, P < 0.001). The percentage of repeated ANA requests in all centers and the APR variation for centers 1 and 2 decreased significantly. Only in center 3 did the percentage of ANA-associated diseases increase significantly. CONCLUSION: A simple intervention resulted in a relevant and significant decrease in the numbers of ANA tests requested by rheumatologists, together with an improvement on 3 other outcome measures.

Quality in rheumatoid arthritis care.

While most rheumatology practices are characterized by strong commitment to quality of care and continuous improvement to limit disability and optimize quality of life for patients and their families, the actual step toward improvement is often difficult. This is because there are still barriers to be addressed and facilitators to be captured before a satisfying and cost-effective practice management is installed. Therefore, this review aims to assist practicing rheumatologists with quality improvement of their daily practice, focusing on care for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. First we define quality of care as "the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge". Often quality is determined by the interplay between structure, processes, and outcomes of care, which is also reflected in the corresponding indicators to measure quality of care. Next, a brief overview is given of the current treatment strategies used in RA, focusing on the tight control strategy, since this strategy forms the basis of international treatment guidelines. Adherence to tight control strategies leads, also in daily practice, to better outcomes in patients with regard to disease control, functional status, and work productivity. Despite evidence in favor of tight control strategies, adherence in daily practice is often challenging. Therefore, the next part of the review focuses on possible barriers and facilitators of adherence, and potential interventions to improve quality of care. Many different barriers and facilitators are known and targeting these can be effective in changing care, but these effects are rather small to moderate. With regard to RA, few studies have tried to improve care, such as a study aiming to increase the number of disease activity measures done by a combination of education and feedback. Two out of the three studies showed markedly positive effects of their interventions, suggesting that change is possible. Finally, a simple step-by-step plan is described, which could be used by rheumatologists in daily practice wanting to improve their RA patient care.