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About the Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity & Monitoring Toolkit
The goal of the Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Disease Activity & Monitoring Toolkit centers around a flowsheet built in the electronic health record that allows clinicians to dynamically assess RA activity consistent with national RA quality indicators advocating disease activity monitoring. The flowsheet longitudinally displays pertinent lab and clinical data for RA/medication management, as well as cardiovascular disease risk monitoring.
The RA Disease Activity & Monitoring Toolkit was developed by researchers and clinicians (Principal Investigator: Christie Bartels, MD MS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine & Public Health – Department of Medicine, Rheumatology Division.
Who should use the RA Disease Activity & Monitoring Toolkit?
This toolkit is intended for use by rheumatology health professionals and health system administrators. The toolkit is designed to help outline the process by which rheumatology disease activity data can be collected from patients and physicians, entered into an electronic health record (EHR) system, and displayed along with lab and CVD risk data for clinician review in the EHR. Based on these materials, you can then build your own rheumatology disease activity and monitoring system in your electronic health record.
The Epic Systems Corporation EHR was used to create the flowsheets depicted in this toolkit; however, you can use the workflow and screen shots in the toolkit to adapt to your own health system and EHR.
What does the toolkit contain?
The toolkit contains several elements:
- A workflow for gathering, entering, and reviewing RA disease activity & monitoring data
- A patient questionnaire regarding recent RA activity
- A documentation flowsheet to enter RA activity data in the electronic health record
- A review flowsheet to review RA activity data longitudinally in the electronic health record
Funding
This project was supported by grant K23 AR062381 from the National Institutes of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, training grant KL2 RR025012 from the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, and an American College of Rheumatology Research Education Foundation Career Development Award. Additional support was provided by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s Health Innovation Program (HIP) and the Community-Academic Partnerships core of the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (UW ICTR), grant 9 U54 TR000021 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (previously grant 1 UL1 RR025011 from the National Center for Research Resources). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or other funders.
References
Bartels CM, Johnson H, Voelker K, Thorpe C, McBride P, Jacobs EA, Pandhi N, Smith M. Impact of rheumatoid arthritis on receiving a diagnosis of hypertension among patients with regular primary care. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2014 Sep;66(9):1281-8.
Toolkit Citation
Bartels C. Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity & Monitoring Toolkit. University of Wisconsin – Madison Department of Medicine, UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, UW Health Innovation Program; 2013. Available at: http://www.hipxchange.org/RA
About the Principal Investigator
Christie Bartels, MD, MS is the Division Head of the University of Wisconsin – Madison Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology. She seeks to improve the cardiovascular health and survival of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Her research program investigates how collaboration between rheumatologists and primary care providers affects management of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors.
