Effective Care for Rheumatoid Arthritis

This essay provides insights on effective care for rheumatoid arthritis. It covers topics such as self-care, community involvement, and diagnosis approaches. The patient's case study is also discussed in detail.

Running head: EFFECTIVE CARE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
EFFECTIVE CARE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Name of the Student:
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1EFFECTIVE CARE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a type of autoimmune disease due to which chronic pain
and swelling takes place in the joint. This autoimmune disease takes place in the case when a
person’s body defence (immune) system is not functioning well, effecting the joint lining,
which leads to inflammation and damage of joint (Healthdirect.gov.au, 2019). There is no
such evidence for explaining the causes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but it is assumed that
people with a family background history and chain smokers are tend to get effected with this
autoimmune disease. Usually RA effects minor joints such as hand, wrist and feet, but it also
effects major joints such as knees and hip (aihw.gov.au, 2019). In this essay, the patient was
suffering from RA in major joints due to which he could not move and access freely and was
bounded by wheelchair movement. It is difficult to diagnose this condition due to the
stiffness, which occurs in joint and inflammation of the joint. In this essay, the patient health
condition was deteriorating with no scope of well-being (Hunt & Talabi, 2019). Hence, in
this essay, a detail insight will be provided on the patient suffering with rheumatoid arthritis
and effective health management and well-being of the patient.
In the initial assessment of the patient Mr Abraham chatzkel, it was observed that the
patient was already suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and from past two months his health
is deteriorating, and he could not pay visit to his friends at local synagogue due to his
inability to walk. The patient was suffering from chronic pain. Proper diagnosis was required,
as the patient had already indicated that he wanted mobility in his life to regain the outdoor
activities and to reconnect with his friends (Healthywa.wa.gov.au, 2019). Based on the initial
assessment the rheumatologist will ensure the diagnosis approach and begin treatment. Based
on the symptoms different physical examination test were conducted such as blood
inflammation test, blood tests for antibodies, anti-CCP test and X-rays for early stage
detection of RA (Arthritis Australia, 2019). In Australia, researchers are developing interest
in potentially understanding the knowledge and better understanding of the disease with

2EFFECTIVE CARE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
sufficient funding from the Australian government. This advancement will help the
researcher to climb one-step closer to the effective treatment benefit of the patient. Arthritis
Australia is considered as a “seed funder”, to develop new extents of research in case of RA
patient (Arthritisaustralia.com.au, 2019). This program attract different funders to invest in
the advancement such as National Health and medical council (NHMRC) for improving and
enhancing high quality research in RA.
In the case study, the patient was desperate to meet his friends at his local synagogue and
to work with them to enjoy all the outdoor activity he was kind of missing due to RA. He
wanted to restart his volunteer work and to reconnect with his friends and local community
people. The involvement and participation of the patient in the community would help him to
recover faster in terms of physical and psychological improvement (Kostova, Caiata &
Schulz, 2015). In case of RA, an appropriate social and emotional support is very important
for assisting the patient with better improvement and positive effect on patient health. Self-
care and self-management are the best approaches used to empower and promote
independence in the patient suffering with rheumatoid arthritis (Savka, 2019). Self-
management helps the patient to take control and in charge of the patient own care to manage
the disease and to live positivity. In different countries like Australia have developed certain
self-management program to assist the patient with self-care and diagnosis approaches to
treat RA by National Rheumatoid Arthritis society (NRAS) (nhs.uk, 2019). This program
helps the patient to discover more about the disease and their condition by providing
strategies to manage the disease in everyday life with proper self-care and community
involvement. Self- management techniques include (nhs.uk, 2019):
 Goal-setting exercises
 Positive thinking
 Relaxation in a community

3EFFECTIVE CARE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
 Breathing exercise to relieve chronic pain.
Self-care is considered as most integral part of everyday life to manage the complication
of disease. Different self-care programs have established in Australia to promote effective
care to the patient such as Arthritis self-management programs (ASMPs) with clinical
guidelines and procedures to help the Patient effectively (Osborne, Spinks and Wicks, 2019).
In self-care, the patient takes the responsibility and authority of own ell-being and health with
the support of health care provider. The patient with long-term health condition can benefit
themselves by taking own care and positivity. The patients tend to live longer, independent,
more active and with a better quality of life. In the case study, the patient wanted to take up
self-care and self-management actively which involved active participation of the patient in
community and get involved with people to avoid stress (Daniali et al., 2018). The safe work
practice for self-care involves the patient to stay fit, to maintain healthy mental and physical
condition, safe practice for effective self-care in case of long-term arthritis condition and to
take up strategies to prevent illness and accidents.
From this essay, it was concluded that the patient was keen to take up self-care and
self-management method to improve his health condition. As rheumatoid arthritis is an
autoimmune disease the patient suffering with this problem often, tend to lose hope and go
through mental stress. In this case, study the patient was suffering from a long-term
rheumatoid arthritis with chronic pain and could not move freely without wheel chair. In such
condition the patient, require an active community participation to develop physical and
mental support and to live with positivity. Different methods were explained to help the
patient get actively involved in the community and to take up measures to reduce the pain.
The patient wanted to go to morning walks, get involved in volunteer activity and
communicate with more and more people to help him to evolve from the mental stress and
provide him with the capability to improve his health. Hence, from this essay it was

4EFFECTIVE CARE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
successfully interpreted, that the patient’s effective self-care practice and community
involvement was only the required criteria for helping him to have a positive effect and
outcome on his health.

5EFFECTIVE CARE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
References:
aihw.gov.au (2019). A picture of rheumatoid arthritis in Australia, Table of contents -
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. [online] Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare. Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-musculoskeletal-
conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis-australia/contents/table-of-contents [Accessed 9 Mar.
2019].
Arthritis Australia. (2019). Rheumatoid arthritis — Arthritis Australia. Retrieved from
https://arthritisaustralia.com.au/types-of-arthritis/rheumatoid-arthritis/
Arthritisaustralia.com.au (2019). [online] Arthritisaustralia.com.au. Available at:
https://arthritisaustralia.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Arthritis-Aus-
Research-Retrospective-2006-2011_Final_140327.pdf [Accessed 9 Mar. 2019].
Daniali, S. S., Darani, F. M., Tavassoli, E., Afshari, A., Forouzande, F., & Eslami, A. A.
(2018). The Prevalence of Depression and Its Association with Self-Management
Behaviors in Chronic Disease Patients. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences, (In Press).
Healthdirect.gov.au. (2019). Rheumatoid arthritis. Retrieved from
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/rheumatoid-arthritis
Healthywa.wa.gov.au (2019). Rheumatoid arthritis. [online] Healthywa.wa.gov.au. Available
at: https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/N_R/Rheumatoid-arthritis [Accessed 9 Mar.
2019].
Hunt, N., & Talabi, M. B. (2019). Family Planning and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Current
Rheumatology Reports, 21(5), 16.

6EFFECTIVE CARE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS
Kostova, Z., Caiata-Zufferey, M., & Schulz, P. J. (2015). Can social support work virtually?
Evaluation of rheumatoid arthritis patients’ experiences with an interactive online
tool. Pain Research and Management, 20(4), 199-209.
nhs.uk (2019). Living with. [online] nhs.uk. Available at:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/living-with/ [Accessed 9 Mar.
2019].
Osborne, R., Spinks, J. and Wicks, I. (2019). Patient education and self-management
programs in arthritis. [online] Mja.com.au. Available at:
https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2004/180/5/patient-education-and-self-management-
programs-arthritis [Accessed 9 Mar. 2019].
Savka, S. (2019). Improved quality of life of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and
nonpsychotic mental disorders. Wiadomosci lekarskie (Warsaw, Poland: 1960), 72(1),
47-51.