Optimizing Care of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Focus on Diagnosis, Combination Therapy, and Outcomes-Based Care-New and emerging strategies for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are continually being explored in research, and many show promising and effective application for real-world clinical practice. To facilitate diagnosis and therefore early treatment of the disease, clinicians should be aware of validated assessment tools, which can be effectively applied in real-world practice settings. Further, monitoring of disease activity and progression using an outcome measure is a valuable and important practice in the optimization of treatment for patients with RA. Current guidelines advocate for the early and sustained use of DMARD therapy in RA. However, clinicians require a more thorough understanding of different strategies in selecting appropriate combination DMARD therapy for each patient, which will ultimately increase chances of remission.
Apply new diagnostic strategies for rheumatoid arthritis to facilitate early diagnosis of the disease. Utilize validated outcome measures to monitor disease activity and progression and ultimately optimize therapy for individual patients with RA. Integrate guidelines and strategies for combination DMARD therapy to facilitate more appropriate DMARD selections for patient therapy.
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