Trial reportBMC musculoskeletal disorders2015
A nurse-led rheumatology clinic versus rheumatologist-led clinic in monitoring of patients with chronic inflammatory arthritis undergoing biological therapy: a cost comparison study in a randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01071447 (Nurse-led Clinic for Patients With Rheumatic Diseases and Biological Treatment), which is not on this map. Cited by 17 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Nurse-led Clinic for Patients With Rheumatic Diseases and Biological Treatment:a Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Nurse-led Clinic Versus Rheumatologist Clinic
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of nurse-led care in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open quality · 2025Pooled it
- Comparing nurse-led and rheumatologist-led care for rheumatoid arthritis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of impact of person-centred interventions for serious physical illness in terms of outcomes and costs.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Nurses' roles in the management of chronic inflammatory arthritis: a systematic review.Rheumatology international · 2018Pooled it
- Nurses as substitutes for doctors in primary care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Evaluation of a multidisciplinary care model to improve quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis: a randomised controlled trial.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022Trial
- Post-stroke rehabilitation in inflammatory rheumatic diseases: outcome measures, digital tools, and patient education perspectives.Rheumatology international · 2026Review
- Nurses' roles, interventions, and implications for management of rheumatic diseases.Rheumatology international · 2024Review
- The impact of introducing multidisciplinary care assessments on access to rheumatology care in British Columbia: an interrupted time series analysis.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Understanding multidisciplinary care for people with rheumatic disease in British Columbia, Canada, through patients, nurses and physicians voices: a qualitative policy evaluation.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Nurse-led care for the management of rheumatoid arthritis: a review of the global literature and proposed strategies for implementation in Africa and the Middle East.Rheumatology international · 2021Review
- Guidelines on the Role of Nursing in Patients with Chronic Inflammatory Arthritis: Do we "AGREE II"?Mediterranean journal of rheumatology · 2020Article
- Multidisciplinary Management of Spondyloarthritis-Related Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disease.Advances in therapy · 2018Article
- Patient Satisfaction and Costs of Multidisciplinary Models of Care in Rheumatology: a Review of the Recent Literature.Current rheumatology reports · 2018Review
- Observational
- Patients' conceptions of their own influence on good treatment response to biological therapy in chronic inflammatory arthritis.Patient preference and adherence · 2017Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecommendations for rheumatology nursing management of chronic inflammatory arthritis (CIA) from European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) states that nurses should take part in the monitoring patients' disease and therapy in order to achieve cost savings. The aim of the study was to compare the costs of rheumatology care between a nurse-led rheumatology clinic (NLC), based on person-centred care (PCC), versus a rheumatologist-led clinic (RLC), in monitoring of patients with CIA undergoing biological therapy.
methodsPatients with CIA undergoing biological therapy (n = 107) and a Disease Activity Score of 28 ≤ 3.2 were randomised to follow-up by either NLC or RLC. All patients met the rheumatologist at inclusion and after 12 months. In the intervention one of two annual monitoring visits in an RLC was replaced by a visit to an NLC. The primary outcome was total annual cost of rheumatology care.
resultsA total of 97 patients completed the RCT at the 12 month follow-up. Replacing one of the two annual rheumatologist monitoring visits by a nurse-led monitoring visit, resulted in no additional contacts to the rheumatology clinic, but rather a decrease in the use of resources and a reduction of costs. The total annual rheumatology care costs including fixed monitoring, variable monitoring, rehabilitation, specialist consultations, radiography, and pharmacological therapy, generated € 14107.7 per patient in the NLC compared with € 16274.9 in the RCL (p = 0.004), giving a € 2167.2 (13 %) lower annual cost for the NLC.
conclusionsPatients with CIA and low disease activity or in remission undergoing biological therapy can be monitored with a reduced resource use and at a lower annual cost by an NLC, based on PCC with no difference in clinical outcomes. This could free resources for more intensive monitoring of patients early in the disease or patients with high disease activity.
trial registrationThe trial is registered as a clinical trial at the ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01071447). Registration date: October 8, 2009.
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