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When it comes to shared medical decision-making, European patients with rheumatoid arthritis are open to ideas.  

A recent patient questionnaire from the European Alliance for Patient Access revealed that patients don’t always find it easy to talk with their doctor or nurse about their symptoms, treatment and quality of life with rheumatoid arthritis.  And they welcome tips and resources to guide them on having difficult conversations.

Questionnaire responses, which reflected feedback from 128 patients across the UK, Portugal and Germany, showed that patients value shared decision-making.  Patients acknowledged that it’s important:

But a gap exists between patients’ beliefs and their practices.  Thinking back on their initial diagnosis, patients reported that they:

Those sensitivities may persist as patients continue working with their health care providers to manage their rheumatoid arthritis.  Patients agreed that they currently:

To help bridge the gap between the shared decision-making patients value and the day-to-day challenges of having frank conversations with their health care providers, patients overwhelmingly see the need for:

In response to this need, a new “Patient Essentials” video offers tips for communicating with one’s health care provider about rheumatoid arthritis.  Spanning the range of newly diagnosed patients to patients who are not achieving optimal relief with their current treatment, the video offers practical tips for open communication and shared decision-making.  The video guides patients on:

In obtaining questionnaire responses, EAfPA partnered with the UK’s National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, the Portuguese League Against Rheumatism and a network of German patients who responded individually. To learn more, see EAfPA’s questionnaire findings summary and watch the new Patient Essentials video, “How to Talk with Your Health Care Provider about Rheumatoid Arthritis.”

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