Research Matters
at the
From:
The Arizona Arthritis
Center (AAC) at The
University of Arizona College of Medicine is preparing to launch
MyWebClinic, an online site that
will house interactive patient registries, resulting in enhanced communication
between patients and physicians and ultimately helping physicians understand and
treat a variety of diseases.
Lisa Hymson,
MPH, program coordinator at the
In the APART study, patients with
rheumatoid arthritis at three study sites recorded self-assessments of their
disease electronically during clinic visits. Participants -- many of whom
were unable to use pencil, pen or keyboard -- were provided touch-screen
computer systems to answer a series of questions about their health. Their
assessments were available to their physicians, who could review them quickly
during the clinic visit.
Completed in July 2005, the study showed
that the electronic data-capture system was a useful tool in both data
collection and physician-patient interactions. Tracking data over time,
physicians were able to determine how patients were responding to specific
medications and other treatments, as well as how they were coping with their
disease.
MyWebClinic, says Hymson, will allow
patients with specific disorders, such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, to
enter real-time reports related to their disease and ultimately will provide
physicians with aggregate data about medications and treatment regimes.
Like the APART study, patient information is protected and kept
confidential. Unlike the APART study, which was designed for patients to enter
data when they came to the clinic at three-month intervals, patients using
MyWebClinic can enter data at any time, thus providing more health information
to the registry.
Jeffrey R. Lisse,
MD, interim director of the
“This is a patient-driven tool,” he says.
“It is convenient, reliable, effective and precise. With it, we can
help patients track their progress and see how they’re doing. Used for research,
the registry can show how patients respond to particular medications. And it can
provide the hard data insurance companies often require to justify expensive
therapies.”
Paul
Howe, computing manager at AAC and leader of the team that
developed the MyWebClinic technology, adds that the online registries also may
yield information for researchers that can help identify and track such diseases
as ankylosing spondylitis, a condition that, in the
“With this technology,” he says, “we can
begin to look at genetic factors to determine what may be a hereditary marker
for a disease like spondylitis.”
MyWebClinic is expected to be online and
interactive in mid-May. The first of the new registries will house data
from a UA study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis that is similar to the
APART study. The registry has attracted the attention of the Arthritis
Foundation, which hopes to see it become a statewide resource.
For more information,
please contact Lisa Hymson, (520) 626-6046, or e-mail hymson@email.arizona.edu
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sguthrie@email.arizona.edu
To read about the
expansion of the UA College of Medicine in Phoenix go to http://www.phoenix.medicine.arizona.edu/About/News/Campus/