2020 Volume 32 Issue 2 Pages 146-153
Utility of the patient support program “Believe” on rheumatoid arthritis treatment course.
Objective: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis（RA）treated with tocilizumab（TCZ）are provided to a proprietary patient support program “Believe”. It consists of several educational materials such as patient booklet about the disease and infection, and pulse oximeter（PO）, which had been provided according to the judgment of the doctor since April 2016. The main objective of this study is to examine the utility of “Believe” including PO on RA treatment.
Subjects and Methods: A questionnaire survey had been conducted for 66 RA patients who participated in “Believe” since April 2016 at Katayama Orthopedic Rheumatology Clinic.
Results: Patientsʼanswers for a questionnaire survey for “Believe” were increased knowledge of RA（87.5%）, decreased anxiety（71.2%）, increased awareness for infection（74.2%）and ncreased reassurance for infection by measuring oxygen saturation（Sp02）（57.1%）. For general assessment for “Believe”, 77.0% of patients evaluated “good” or “very good”. 3 cases（5%）showed the abnormal status of SpO2.
Evaluations of “Believe” by 5-point rating were 4.17 for-increased knowledge, 4.10 for increased awareness of infectious diseases and 3.98 for-comprehensive evaluation.
Conclusions: Provided information regarding RA and infection control by the “Believe” system had developed patientʼs knowledge and health management awareness of RA.
“Believe” was considered to be a useful support program for patients who treated with TCZ.
