Arthritis care & research
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Arthritis care & research · Jun 2013
Competency-based goals, objectives, and linked evaluations for rheumatology training programs: a standardized template of learning activities from the Carolinas Fellows Collaborative.
American Council on Graduate Medical Education program requirements mandate that rheumatology training programs have written goals, objectives, and performance evaluations for each learning activity. Since learning activities are similar across rheumatology programs, we aimed to create competency-based goals and objectives (CBGO) and evaluations that would be generalizable nationally. ⋯ We propose adoption of these template CBGO by the ACR, with access available to all rheumatology training programs. Evaluation forms that exactly reflect stated objectives ensure that trainees are assessed using standardized measures and that trainees are aware of the learning expectations. The objectives mirrored in the evaluations closely align with the proposed milestones for internal medicine training, and will therefore be a useful starting point for creating these milestones in rheumatology.
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Arthritis care & research · Jun 2013
Influence of family environment on long-term psychosocial functioning of adolescents with juvenile fibromyalgia.
Little is known about the impact of family environment on the long-term adjustment of patients with juvenile-onset fibromyalgia (JFM). Our objective was to evaluate whether family environment in early adolescence predicted later physical functioning and depressive symptoms of adolescents with JFM as they transitioned to early adulthood in the context of a controlled long-term followup study. ⋯ Adolescents with JFM from controlling family environments are at an increased risk for poorer emotional functioning in early adulthood. Behavioral and family interventions should foster independent coping among adolescents with JFM and greater parenting flexibility to enhance successful long-term coping.
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Arthritis care & research · Jun 2013
Predictors of pain for patients with early inflammatory polyarthritis.
To identify predictors of pain at 1 year in patients with early inflammatory polyarthritis (EIP). ⋯ The majority of treated EIP patients can expect improvements in clinical and psychosocial variables over the first year of their illness. Emotional coping at baseline may contribute to pain in the future, and therefore it may be useful for patients to learn other means of dealing with this chronic disease.
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Arthritis care & research · May 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyPrevalence of fibromyalgia: a population-based study in Olmsted County, Minnesota, utilizing the Rochester Epidemiology Project.
To estimate and compare the prevalence of fibromyalgia by 2 different methods in Olmsted County, Minnesota. ⋯ To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the rate at which fibromyalgia is being diagnosed in a community. This is also the first report of prevalence as assessed by the fibromyalgia research survey criteria. Our results suggest that patients, particularly men, who meet the fibromyalgia research survey criteria are unlikely to have been given a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.