Rheumatoid Arthritis Self-Management Toolkit for Physician Assistants: Rheumatoid Arthritis Toolkit for PAs

Background: Self-management is a key component of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease.Primary care physician assistants (PA) are uniquely situated to provide chronic disease management, equipping patients with the education and skills needed to self-manage RA.Purpose: To create a self-management toolkit for primary care PAs to use with patients diagnosed with RA.Methods: Characteristics of effective patient self-management interventions for individuals with RA were identified through a literature search.Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINHAL databases were systematically searched and a total of 8 articles met inclusion criteria.Thematic analysis identified common themes of effective RA self-management interventions.Results: Four patient characteristics were identified to influence self-management of RA including patient medication management and education, healthy lifestyle, symptom management with non-pharmacological interventions, and emotion management.Two primary healthcare provider characteristics were identified to impact patient selfmanagement of RA including smooth transition of care between healthcare providers and knowledgeability and confidence of primary healthcare providers.Implications: Based on the identified characteristics of effective RA selfmanagement, a toolkit for primary care PAs was proposed.