TY - JOUR T1 - Influence of an Educational Seminar on Use of Disease Activity Measurements by Rheumatologists in Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 532 LP - 538 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.080291 VL - 36 IS - 3 AU - MAX I. HAMBURGER AU - FRAN H. HAMBURGER AU - J. MARTIN BERGMAN AU - ALAN EPSTEIN AU - ALAN BROWN Y1 - 2009/03/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/36/3/532.abstract N2 - Objective. To determine the variables underlying clinical decisions made by rheumatologists when treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to determine the effect of an educational seminar on the use of quantitative disease activity measurements in clinical practice in this population of physicians. Methods. Practicing rheumatologists were surveyed on the variables affecting their clinical management of patients with RA by questionnaire. Physicians were divided into 2 groups: the first comprised attenders (Group A) to an educational seminar in the use of the quantitative disease activity measurements in patient management, while the second group comprised nonattenders (Group NA). Both groups were surveyed on their practice behavior before (Survey 1) and 2 to 3 months after (Survey 2) the seminar. Results. Fifty-two rheumatologists in clinical practice from across the US completed and returned 364 surveys. A significantly greater number of rheumatologists in Group A reported use of disease activity measures following the training seminar (Survey 2), compared to their use pre-meeting and compared to Group NA (p < 0.0001). Conclusion. Our results support employment of an educational seminar on the use of disease activity measurements to increase the use of these quantitative measures in rheumatologic practice. ER -