Rheumatoid Arthritis: Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Patient Education

This article provides an overview of rheumatoid arthritis, including its pathophysiology, pharmacological treatments, and key patient education considerations. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes joint pain and damage. The article discusses the underlying immunological mechanisms of the disorder and how medications can alter the disease process. It also highlights the importance of patient education in managing the disease.

Rheumatoid
arthritis

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Pathophysiology of disorder with an in-depth discussion of underlying immunological
mechanisms..................................................................................................................................1
Pharmacological treatments detailing how the medications alter the underlying disease process
.....................................................................................................................................................2
Key patient education considerations when nursing a patient with this disorder........................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain and damage
throughout the patient’s body. The joint damage that RA causes usually happens on both sides of
the body. This disease can affect the well-being of patient negatively. There are various signs
and symptoms which are been associated with the disease. It has been analysed that the person
who are been suffering from it can face fatigue, weight loss, stiffness, pain in joints, slightly high
fever and many more. It can reduce the quality of life of the patients who have been suffering
from RA. The Australian incidence data has provided with the result that around 458000
Australians are been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. It means that 1.9% of the total
population is been suffering from this disease. The Rheumatoid arthritis is most common in the
people who are above the age of 75. Moreover some set of the RA also appears for the people
between the ages of 45-65. It has also been analysed from the research that the prevalence rate of
this disease is higher among the women which is 2.3% than the male at 1.5%. There are also
various risk factors that have been associated with the Rheumatoid arthritis. It has been analysed
that individual who are obese are at more risk of having RA. Smoking can also be considered as
one of the major risk factor which causes such disease and reduce the quality of life of an
individual who have been suffering from it. Age can also be considered as the risk of suffering
from the arthritis disease. It has been analysed that mostly old age people are been going through
RA. It has also been analysed that sometimes this disease is been caused because of the genes.
MAIN BODY
Pathophysiology of disorder with an in-depth discussion of underlying immunological
mechanisms
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can be considered as an inflammatory disease which causes
intense pain in joints. It can affect the quality of life of an individual who has been suffering
from it. Mostly people of the old age have been suffering from the problem of RA. The etiology
related to this disease has not been identified yet, research is been done on it. The impact of
genetic factor has been obvious (Taylor and et.al., 2017). The pathophysiology is been related to
the abnormal state and the changes in functioning of body system which can be faced by the
patient who have been suffering from the rheumatoid arthritis. The impact of RA lays effect on
the immune system of body; it makes the density of bone lower down. This disease attack the
tissue of the body which causes pain that is unbearable and also the affects the working of joints
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negatively. There are various signs and symptoms that have been linked and related to the
disease. It has been analyses that the prevalence rate of rheumatoid arthritis among women is
higher than the man. It has been analyzed that health care professional must be involved in
analyzing the early signs and symptoms so that health outcome of an individual suffering from
the RA Enhances. The pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis includes that this disease at an
early level can affect the small joints first. As the disease spreads the signs and symptoms related
to it can also be seen in the wrist, ankle, knees. It has also been analyzed that RA can also affect
the non-joint body areas such as eyes, kidneys, bone marrow, and nerve tissue. It can reduce the
quality of health outcome of patients who have been suffering from the rheumatoid arthritis (Rao
and et.al., 2017).
Rheumatoid arthritis occurs when the immune system attacks the synovium. It has been
analyzed from the research that cartilage and bones are been destroyed when the RA attacks the
immune system. It can make patient weak and also they can face intense pain in joints which can
affect their health and well-being negatively. There are various signs and symptoms that can be
seen in the patient who has been suffering from the RA. Patient can ace fatigue, swelling in
joints and many more (Singh and et.al., 2016). This rheumatoid arthritis can also because various
other sever consequences such as it can lead to other problems like osteoporosis. It is the
conditions which can reduce the strength of bones and patient can face fracture easily because of
it. There are various types of infections that can be faced by the patient as this disease impairs
immune system. Patient can also face the problem of their mouth being dry. It can also increase
the risk of lung disease as RA is a type of inflammatory disease. In order to overcome these
problem patient needs to have an idea of the early signs and symptoms so that there health
outcome can be enhanced. Arthritis affects homeostasis by causing inflammation in the joints,
and sometimes in other parts of the body. The inflammation process which occurs during the
time of RA is taken as the severe illness. This disease can lead to damaging the joints of the
human body permanently.
Pharmacological treatments detailing how the medications alter the underlying disease process
The health care professional in order to improvise the health outcome of patient suffering
from rheumatoid arthritis can provide them with the pharmacological treatment. It can include
various type of medication that can be used for altering the underlying disease process. The type
of medication which can be given by the health care professional can be one the basis of the
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severity of symptoms. They will provide the medication after analyzing how severe the signs are.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can be given to patients suffering from RA.
This will help in reducing down the pain which has been faced by the patients suffering from this
disease. It will assist in enhancing the health outcome of patient suffering from the Rheumatoid
arthritis. It has also been analyzed that there are various side effects of this medication. It can
cause problems related to heart and lungs in future. In this health care professional can also be
involved in giving steroids (McInnes and Schett, 2017). This can include medication like
prednisone. This medication can assist in lowering down the process of inflammation. It can
reduce the pain which has been caused in the joint. This medication also has certain side effects
that patient can gain weight when consuming medication like this. This can also cause thinning
of the bone. Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) can also be provided. This
medication is been given in order to save the tissue from getting damage. It will enhance the
health outcome of patient.
Key patient education considerations when nursing a patient with this disorder
 It has been analyzed that it is the duty of nurse to enhance the education related to disease
which has been faced by the patient such rheumatoid arthritis. The patient suffering from
it needs to have an idea about the disease so that they can self-manage it and also by this
they will be engaged in taking better decisions.
 In this nurses must be engaged in making aware about the patients related to the early
signs and symptoms related to rheumatoid arthritis. This is because during the early stage
this disease only affects the small joints so nurses can prevent it from growing by
providing the patient education about the same (Firestein and McInnes, 2017).
 It has also been analyzed that education can also be provided on the life style changes.
Nurse can motivate the patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis to quit smoking so that
their health outcome can be improved. This is been done as smoking is one of the major
factor suffering from the RA. Nurses can also provide education related to the benefits of
exercising when suffering from disease like this.
 It will help the patients in strengthening the muscles of bones and joints. Nurses also need
to be engaged in analyzing and monitoring the pain which is related to inflammation as it
damages the tissue. Various other nursing interventions can also be used in order to
enhance the health outcome of patient who has been suffering from the RA.
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CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been
considered as an inflammatory disease which causes intense pain in joints. This disease has
highest prevalence rate among women in comparison to men. It has been analyzed that this
disease impairs the immune system and also affects the tissue that causes pain in joints. There
are various signs and symptoms related to the disease which has affected the health outcome of
the patient. It has been analyzed that education must be provided to patient related to the disease
so that there quality of life improvises.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Firestein, G.S. and McInnes, I.B., 2017. Immunopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. Immunity,
46(2), pp.183-196.
McInnes, I.B. and Schett, G., 2017. Pathogenetic insights from the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis. The Lancet, 389(10086), pp.2328-23
Singh, J.A. and et.al., 2016. 2015 American College of Rheumatology guideline for the treatment
of rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis & rheumatology, 68(1), pp.1-26.
Taylor, P.C. and et.al., 2017. Baricitinib versus placebo or adalimumab in rheumatoid
arthritis. New England Journal of Medicine, 376(7), pp.652-662.
Rao, D.A. and et.al., 2017. Pathologically expanded peripheral T helper cell subset drives B cells
in rheumatoid arthritis. Nature, 542(7639), pp.110-114.
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