Pharmaceutical Care Issues of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis

   • Carmel Mallia, Bernard Coleiro

   Pages 1-18

3. Pharmacotherapy of Rheumatoid Arthritis

   • Aygin Bayraktar-Ekincioglu, Louise Grech

   Pages 19-37

4. Pharmacoeconomics and Rheumatoid Arthritis

   • Maurice Zarb Adami, Bernard Coleiro

   Pages 39-52

5. Pharmaceutical Care Issues of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

   • Lilian M. Azzopardi, Louise Grech, Marilyn Rogers

   Pages 53-69

6. Transitional Care: Caring Across the Interface

   • Karen Farrugia, Margarida Caramona

   Pages 71-78

7. Back Matter

   Pages 79-87

   PDF

This book presents concise, comprehensive summaries of topics necessary to understand rheumatoid arthritis (RA) management, aligned with patient needs, as a reference suitable for practitioners and students of all levels. Special attention is paid to the innovative RhMAT (Rheumatoid Arthritis Medication Assessment Tool), in addition to descriptions of the pharmacological management of RA, pharmacoeconomic and pharmacovigilance considerations, the benefits of seamless care, and case presentations.Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common forms of inflammatory arthritis in the world, with a prevalence of 0.5 to 1%. While no cure has yet been established, modern biotechnology has enabled highly effective management, if treatment begins early. However, cost and side effects, such as immune suppression, continue to present barriers, and monitoring of patients is pivotal to safe and effective disease management.
Both hospital and community pharmacists are involved in RA patient management, and have responsibilities to this patient population.  Identifying pharmaceutical care issues and ensuring that the patients are managed in accordance to best evidence-based medicine are paramount. Best care is delivered when pharmacists effectively communicate with each other, the prescribers and the multidisciplinary team members involved in the care of the patient. This book aims to tackle the various aspects of the management of RA patients across all the settings.

• Clinical Pharmacy
• Medication Assessment tools
• Pharmacy Practice Research
• Pharmacy Practice Teaching
• RhMAT
• Rheumatoid Arthritis Medication Assessment Tool
• Seamless Care

“This concise book is designed to introduce pharmacy professionals to both the clinical and the pharmaceutical care aspects of patients who have rheumatoid arthritis. … All pharmacy professionals may take something away from this book, but pharmacy students will find it to be more valuable, as some of the chapters are presented in a very basic manner, thus making it easier to understand the material. Working pharmacists … will find this book helpful as well.” (Michael C. Barros, Doody's Book Reviews, September, 2016)

• Department of Pharmacy, University of Malta Department of Pharmacy, Msida, Malta

  Louise Grech

• Pharmacy Practice, International Clinical Pharmacy Education, University of Illinois at Chicago Pharmacy Practice, International Clinicago, Chicago, USA

  Alan Lau

Louise Grech graduated as a pharmacist in 2002 from the University of Malta and started working as a hospital pharmacist at St. Luke's General Hospital, Malta. In 2004 she was appointed a clinical pharmacist within the rheumatology unit and underwent training as clinical pharmacist at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and at the Southern General Hospital, in Glasgow. Dr. Grech obtained her M. Phil degree at the University of Strathclyde in 2004 and went on to obtain her Ph.D degree at the University of Malta on design and evaluation of pharmaceutical care models in rheumatology conditions in 2015. She is currently also a lecturer within the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Malta. Her work has been presented at a number of conferences including  the European Society for Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) conferences, the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) annual conferences and the American College of Rheumatology annual conferences. She is a member of the International Federation of Pharmacists (FIP), the American College of Clinical Pharmacists (ACCP) and the American College of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ACRHP). 

Alan Lau is Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Director of International Clinical Pharmacy Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Pharmacy. He pioneered the development of clinical pharmacy services for renal failure patients on dialysis. He has published many research papers and book chapters, including chapters in the textbooks Pharmacotherapy, Applied Therapeutics - The Clinical Use of Drugs and Basic Skills in Interpreting Laboratory Data.  He was one of the founding members of the Nephrology Practice and Research Network of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and has served as Chairman of the Renal Scientific Section in the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. In 2010, he was elected a Distinguished Practitioner to the National Academies of Practice in Pharmacy< and in 2011, he was appointed by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) to be Professional Development Associate for International Programs. Prof Lau is an authority for advancing global clinical pharmacy practice education within international postgraduate programmes initiatives such as the post-graduate PharmD programme run in collaboration with the University of Malta.

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