© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 389
Y. El Miedany (ed.), Patient Reported Outcome Measures in Rheumatic Diseases,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32851-5_16
Chapter 16
PROMs and Patient Education
Deborah Palmer and Mwidimi Ndosi
Introduction
Infl ammatory musculoskeletal conditions are complex in nature and have a negative
impact on the individuals’ physical, social, and psychological functioning [ 1 ]. This
means that all aspects of the patient’s life, and their caregivers or family members’
lives, are affected. While the management of the disease is usually started in a spe-
cialist rheumatology unit, day-to-day management shifts from the health profes-
sionals to the patient and/or their caregivers who are expected to undertake
self-management activities. Barlow et al. [ 2 ] has defi ned self-management as “the
individual’s ability to manage the symptoms and the consequences of living with a
chronic condition, including treatment, physical, social, and lifestyle changes.” To
undertake self-management effi ciently, patients and/or their caregivers require suf-
fi cient knowledge, skills, attitudes, and coping abilities, which can be provided
through patient education that is timely and relevant to their needs [ 3 , 4 ]. Patient
education is regarded as an integral part of disease management of most rheumatic
conditions. This has been specifi ed in European League Against Rheumatism
(EULAR) recommendations for patient education [ 5 ] as well as the treatment guide-
lines of most rheumatic diseases [ 6 – 12 ].
D. Palmer , Diploma Rheumatology Nursing (*)
Department of Rheumatology , North Middlesex University Hospital , Wilbury Way,
London N18 1BX , UK
e-mail: [email protected]
M. Ndosi , PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons), RN
School of Healthcare , University of Leeds , Baines Wing , Leeds , West Yorkshire LS2 9JT , UK
e-mail: [email protected]