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Patient–physician collaboration in rheumatology: a necessity
  1. Elena Nikiphorou1,2,
  2. Alessia Alunno3,
  3. Loreto Carmona4,
  4. Marios Kouloumas5,
  5. Johannes Bijlsma6 and
  6. Maurizio Cutolo7
  1. 1 Academic Rheumatology Department, King’s College London, London, UK
  2. 2 Rheumatology Department, Whittington Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK
  3. 3 Department of Medicine, Rheumatology Unit,University of Perugia, Italy
  4. 4 Instituto de Salud Musculoesqueletica, Madrid, Spain
  5. 5 Cyprus League Against Rheumatism, Aglantzia, Cyprus
  6. 6 Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands
  7. 7 Division of Clinical Rheumatology,Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Dr Elena Nikiphorou; enikiphorou{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Over the past few decades, there has been significant and impressive progress in the understanding and management of rheumatic diseases. One of the key reasons for succeeding in making this progress has been the increasingly stronger partnership between physicians and patients, setting a milestone in patient care. In this viewpoint, we discuss the recent evolution of the physician–patient relationship over time in Europe, reflecting on the ‘journey’ from behind the clinic walls through to clinical and research collaborations at national and international level and the birth of healthcare professional and ‘rheumatic’ patient organisations. The role of expert patients and patient advocates in clinical and scientific committees now represents a core part of the decision-making process. In more recent years and following the recognition that the young patients, physicians and academics have a voice and needs of their own, including the need to be educated and instructed, has encouraged the establishment of youth organisations, enabling change and innovation to take place at a uniquely different level.

  • rheumatic patients
  • patient advocacy
  • EULAR
  • healthcare professionals
  • physician-patient communication
  • rheumatic musculoskeletal diseases

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/rmdopen-2017-000499

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors EN conceived the idea for writing this manuscript and provided a first draft. EN and AA produced a second draft which was then critically reviewed by LC, MK, JB and MC and a revised draft produced by EN and AA. The final draft was approved by all co-authors.

    • Competing interests EN is Chair of the EMerging EULAR NETwork (EMEUNET). AA is Chair-Elect of the EMerging EULAR NETwork (EMEUNET). LC is Technical Secretary of the patient Spanish League against Rheumatism. MK is President of the Cyprus League Against Rheumatism & Past Vice President of EULAR Representing PARE. JB is President of EULAR. MC is Former Chairman of ILAR.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.