A 58 Year-Old Female Complains of Joint Pain and Fatigue

Program Description:

A 58-year-old Caucasian female presents with generalized fatigue for past 6 months, with increasing stiffness in the joints of her hands and in both knees, particularly in the morning. She has been using over-the-counter ibuprofen with some relief. Diagnostic studies show that Diane is positive for rheumatoid factor.

INTENDED AUDIENCE:

This activity is intended for rheumatologists, internists, primary care practitioners, and other healthcare professionals managing rheumatoid arthritis.

Activity Objectives:

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Discuss the presentation, differential diagnosis and evalution of patietns with mild to moderate rheumatoid arthrititis


• Explain the need to treat patients with moderate rheumatoid arthritis as early as possile with DMARDs to control symptoms and delay disease progression


• Formulate a multidisciplinary plan for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Faculty:

John A. Goldman, MD
Private Practice
Chief of Rheumatology
St. Joseph’s Hospital
President, Medical Quarters
Atlanta, Georgia

Elinor A. Mody, MD
Director, Women's Orthopedic and Joint Disease Program
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts

Independent Reviewer
Peter Barland, MD
Master of the American College of Rheumatology
Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Attending Physician at Montefiore Medical Center and Jacobi Medical Center
Bronx, New York

Disclosures:

Disclosure Statement
As a provider accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Accreditation (ACCME), it is the policy of MedCases to require the disclosure of the existence of any relevant financial interest or any other relationship a faculty member or a provider has with the manufacturer(s) of any commercial product(s) discussed in an educational presentation. The faculty and planning committee members reported the following:

Faculty
John A. Goldman, MD
Speakers’ Bureau – Amgen Inc.; Pfizer, Inc.; and UCB S.A.

Elinor A. Mody, MD, has nothing to disclose

Independent Reviewer
Peter Barland, MD, has nothing to disclose

Unapproved Product Use
In accordance with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements regarding the disclosure of off-label, investigational, or unapproved recommendations for the use of drugs or devices, you are advised that content in this activity does not contain reference(s) to uses of drugs or devices that are off-label, investigational, or unapproved in the United States.

Disclaimer
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Accredited Provider:

This program is sponsored by MedCases, LLC.

Commercial Supporter:

This activity is supported by an educational grant from Genentech.

Instructions:

Method of Participation
This Internet-based activity takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. You should review the objectives and case, answer the multiple-choice post-test and complete an evaluation form online. Once completed, you will be able to save your certificate to your own computer and print it on your own printer.

To obtain credit, a score of 70% or better is required. This CME is offered at no cost to participants. Please proceed with the activity until you have successfully completed this program, answered all post-test questions, completed the post-test survey, and received your digital copy of your credit certificate. Your online certificate will be saved on myCME.com within your Profile/Exam History, which you can then access at any time.

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

WINDOWS PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
266-MHz Pentium II; Windows 98 or higher; 64 MB RAM; 800 x 600 screen resolution set for “High Color (16-Bit)”; Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher.

MACINTOSH^® SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Power Mac g3 at 300 MHz; System 8.5 or higher (excluding Mac OSX); 96 MB RAM; 20 MB minimum hard disk space available; 800 x 600 screen resolution set to “Thousands of Colors”; Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher.