2010 Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 24-30
The development of anti-TNFα antibody and other biologic drugs changed the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Only facilities with specialists of rheumatoid arthritis use these newly introduced drugs, and other facilities are anxious of adverse events or side effects when prescribing biologic drugs and conventional anti-rheumatoid arthritis drugs and therefore don't use biological drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, even not Methotrexate.
Between September 2007 and November 2008, our newly developed RACRC-Path (Rheumatoid Arthritis Circulatory Regional Collaboration-Pathway) was applied to 33 patients at 14 different institutions. Collaborating hospitals were easily accessible for RA patients and several lectures about biological drugs were held for the patients.
After the first introduction phase at the National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, collaborating hospitals then continued to take care of patients with biological drugs. Patients visited the Medical Center every 6 months for blood and X-ray examination, and, in case of acute adverse events, they were able to visit the center's ER any time or even become hospitalized.
Critical pathway is useful for effective and quality care under consideration of rheumatoid arthritis characteristics.
