Changing the Conversation with Patients: Lupus

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Dr. Megan Clowse from Duke University talks about changing how she talks to patients with lupus, exploring and treating two types of lupus.

Three Healthcare Hashtags You Should Follow 

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I've sent more than 2,000 tweets since joining Twitter in July 2010. Even better, I've read (and sometimes shared) thousands of other educational, informative and sometimes humorous tweets from fellow rheumatologists, physicians, healthcare providers and others around the world. While following individuals and organizations relevant to you is important, so is following hashtags. Here are three I recommend.

ICYMI: Telemedicine Bloopers and Successes

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At my COVID home command center, I feel pretty prepared for everything. From here, I can run my practice, manage and home-school 3 children and keep the family afloat.  I have 2 computers: one for telemedicine/business meetings and one for e-learning lessons/school updates that teachers and school administrators email me throughout the day for my children.  As a no-nonsense, organized mom and doctor, I felt ready to handle any issues that would arise. 

Telemedicine Bloopers and Successes

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ACR20 Pearls Part 3: Pragmatic Applications for Managing Vasculitis

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While the ACR prepares to publish its new guidelines for the diagnosis and management of vasculitis in the Spring of 2020, Dr. John Stone presented his own perspectives on the practical management of vasculitis during the 2019 ACR meeting in Atlanta.  He acknowledged that what may be pearls one day, may be disproven with data in the future. 

Pearls Part 2: Common Sense Rheumatology 

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We live in an era where you need evidence in order to believe, but life’s experiences should not be discounted even if we do not have the statistics to support them…yet. In Part 2 of my annual meeting Pearls Trilogy, I present ten tips and observations shared by Dr. Sterling West from his session, "Rheumatology Top Secrets & Pearls".

A Review of the Review Course + How to Make the Information Stick

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I have been attending the ACR Review Course for more than a decade, and it seems every year it gets better and better. Contrary to what most people think, this is not a board review course; it is more of a review of the latest research delivered by experts condensing rheumatology in eight hours.

Best of 2017: Across the Table: Cush & Erkan on Antiphospholipid Syndrome

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The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a common disorder affecting patients with and without autoimmune disease. Despite wider recognition of APS among physicians as well as the expanding research collaborations, many clinical questions are still encountered in clinical practice, which require further evidence-based studies. In this “Across the Table” edition, Drs. Cush and Erkan discuss some of these APS-related questions. Our guest expert, Dr. Doruk Erkan offers up his approach to diagnosis and management of APS.

Across the Table: Cush & Erkan on Antiphospholipid Syndrome (Best of 2017)

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The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a common disorder affecting patients with and without autoimmune disease. Despite wider recognition of APS among physicians as well as the expanding research collaborations, many clinical questions are still encountered in clinical practice, which require further evidence-based studies. In this “Across the Table” edition, Drs. Cush and Erkan discuss some of these APS-related questions. Our guest expert, Dr. Doruk Erkan offers up his approach to diagnosis and management of APS.

Creaky Joints Nails New Patient Pregnancy and Family Planning Guidelines

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Patients and physicians are riddled with misconceptions when pregnancy is concerned. As construed by Dr. Jack Cush, most rheumatologists treat pregnancy like a cancer and avoid the gravid patient, deferring to obstetricians who do not have training in rheumatology to manage the rheumatic condition as well as the pregnancy. 

ACR 2017 Highlights: RA, SpA, PsA, OA, Lupus and More

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The quality of the meeting was on par with the host city, with extensive data presented on a range of topics, from social media to drug safety. The organization committee did a great job and I got the feeling that most people felt the congress was user friendly given the magnitude of the event. During this year’s meeting, I had the privilege of working with the RheumNow team, which gave me the opportunity to hone my social media skills and get my Twitter game on. After reviewing plenty of posters and going to numerous presentations, here are my top take home messages as classified by disease state.

Step Into Sunshine

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I recently had a follow up with an SLE patient who wanted to discuss sun protection options since moving to Dallas, where we have 232 days of sunshine yearly. Sun protection is important for our patients. As rheumatologists, we have an obligation to go beyond 'avoid the sun or wear sunscreen when you're out' platitudes.