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An international quality improvement initiative focused on supporting rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients to reach their full potential for remission is to pilot the use of dedicated clinical resources across six Irish rheumatology units in the coming months.
Prof Sinéad Harney
The EVEREST (EleVatE care in RhEumatoid arthritiS with Treat-to-target) project is supported by an international steering committee chaired by Prof Maya Buch from the University of Manchester’s Centre for Musculoskeletal Research.
The executive steering committee in Ireland is comprised of a number of consultant rheumatologists, including Prof Sinéad Harney who is a Consultant Rheumatologist in Cork University Hospital.
The objective of the outreach, which is led by AbbVie, is to improve the widespread implementation and attainment of pre-agreed target outcomes.
A series of EVEREST tools including a patient workbook, dictionary, and visual conversation aids were made available to the rheumatology community at the Irish Society for Rheumatology Autumn Meeting.
Prof Harney said: “Goal setting and setting treatment targets are important for both patients and healthcare professionals and having resources readily available to assist with this will help busy rheumatology teams in Ireland embrace shared decision-making with patients who have rheumatoid arthritis.”
The global and Irish teams of rheumatology specialists have supported the development of these tools. This development journey has used innovative, sustainable science-based approaches to ensure the resulting suite of tools offer some relevant solutions for implementing treat-to-target in a busy rheumatology clinical practice.
A patient workbook, shared decision-making aids and an educational video on disease self-assessment are currently available and a telehealth toolkit including telehealth checklists will be made available over the coming months.
EVEREST will be piloted and its impact assessed in rheumatology departments at the following Irish sites over the next six months: Beaumont Hospital and St James’s Hospital in Dublin; Cork University Hospital; Our Lady’s Hospital, Manorhamilton; Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan; and University Hospital Waterford.
The tools are now available to all Irish healthcare professionals working in rheumatology and can be downloaded via the recently developed EVEREST platform, www.everestra.ie
Hard copies of some of the tools are also available and can be requested by emailing the AbbVie medical department at Irelandmedinfo@abbvie.com or by contacting Ms Siobhan Goff on Siobhan.goff@abbvie.com
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