Coalitions/Patient Engagement Community Groups Pathway

Coalitions/Patient Engagement Community Groups

2002

Patients are invited to join the rheumatology research team

Patients are invited to join the rheumatology research team
  • 2002: Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) OMERACT is a global community for the development of Core Outcome Sets in the field of rheumatology. Patients participate as research partners in all phases of the research and are equal members in any OMERACT working group.
    www.omeract.org
    invites patients to participate for the first time, alongside researchers and rheumatologists.

This led to the development of the CoPI Patient Research Partner (PRP) Patient Research Partner (PRP) is defined as a person with a relevant disease who participates or has participated as an active research team member on an equal basis with professional researchers, thus adding the value of experiential knowledge to a research project. established by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)EULAR is the organization that represents people with arthritis/rheumatism, health professionals (HPR), and scientific societies of rheumatology of all the European nations. The aims of EULAR are to reduce the burden of rheumatic diseases on the individual and society and to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal diseases. To this end, EULAR fosters excellence in education and research in the field of rheumatology. It promotes the translation of research advances into daily care and fights for the recognition of the needs of people with musculoskeletal diseases by the governing bodies in Europe. As such, they have always had their own educational program at the annual EULAR Congress meeting, but in the earlier years, the symposia they organized was mostly independent of the other congress sessions. eular.org in 2010. See Experience Working with Patients in Research Leads to Guidance for Best Practices, 2010Read more about the initial history of patient involvement at OMERACT (download pdf).

CoPI: Patient Research Partner (PRP), conference participant

Tools: Report – Patient Researcher Engagement

Context: Core Outcome Sets (COS)/Core Outcome Measures

2005

Rheumatology guidance begins

Rheumatology guidance begins
  • 2005: Cochrane Musculoskeletal (CM)Cochrane Musculoskeletal (CM) is made up of health care professionals, researchers and consumer representatives that belong to Cochrane, an international, non-profit organization that aims to help people make well-informed decisions about health care by preparing, maintaining and promoting reviews on the effects of health care treatments. They produce reliable, up-to-date reviews of interventions for the prevention, treatment or rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders in the form of systematic reviews. CM is also dedicated to making our systematic reviews available to those interested in treatments for musculoskeletal diseases (dissemination). In 1993, they formed a Consumer Group (CMSG), enlisting patient systematic reviewers to join health care professionals and researchers belonging to Cochrane. Canada musculoskeletal.cochrane.org develops guidance for systemic review authors and for building partnerships in research.Consumer‐driven health care: Building partnerships in research, 2005. Shea B, Santesso N, Qualman A, Heiberg T, Leong A, Judd M, et al. Consumer-driven health care: building partnerships in research. Health Expectations 2005;8(4):352-9.
    musculoskeletal.cochrane.org
    Download PDF (download pdf)
  • 2006: Cochrane Musculoskeletal Consumer Group (CMSG)The CMSG formed in 1993, enlisting patient systematic reviewers to join health care professionals and researchers belonging to Cochrane. “The feedback provides a layperson’s perspective to complement the feedback provided by our clinical experts.”musculoskeletal.cochrane.org develops initial recommendations to aid knowledge translation and exchange between clinicians and consumersSantesso N, Maxwell L, Tugwell PS, Wells GA, O’connor AM, Judd M, Buchbinder R. Knowledge transfer to clinicians and consumers by the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group. J Rheumatol. 2006 Nov;33(11):2312-8. PMID: 17086612.. These were updated in 2014.
  • 2008: Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International SocietyAssessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society is an international group of experts in the field of spondyloarthritis.
    asas-group.org
    /European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) aims to reduce the burden of rheumatic diseases on the individual and society and to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal diseases.
    eular.org
    (ASAS/EULAR) collaborated with patients to translate recommendations for the management of ankylosing spondylitis for the first time into a language easily understood by patients. (download pdf)

 

CoPI: Advisory panels, consumer reviewers

Tools: Guidance documents – patient-researcher engagement; Recommendations – dissemination

Context: Systemic literature reviews, lay summaries, guideline development, dissemination (knowledge translation)

2010

Experience working with patients in research leads to guidance for best practices

Experience working with patients in research leads to guidance for best practices

As a few years have passed since patient engagement in rheumatology began, guidance and recommendations are developed based on lessons learned.

  • 2010: Patient Research Partner (PRP): As a result of patient-researcher collaboration with Outcome Measures in Rheumatology  (OMERACT) OMERACT is a global community for the development of Core Outcome Sets in the field of rheumatology. Patients participate as research partners in all phases of the research and are equal members in any OMERACT working group.
    omeract.org; omeractprpnetwork.org
    in 2002, Eueropean Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) is the organization which represents the people with arthritis/rheumatism, health professionals (HPR), and scientific societies of rheumatology of all the European nations. The aims of EULAR are to reduce the burden of rheumatic diseases on the individual and society and to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal diseases. To this end, EULAR fosters excellence in education and research in the field of rheumatology. It promotes the translation of research advances into daily care and fights for the recognition of the needs of people with musculoskeletal diseases by the governing bodies in Europe.
    eular.org
    publishes recommendations for patient-researcher collaboration (download pdf) and defines the role of Patient Research Partner (PRP)Patient Research Partner (PRP) is defined as a person with a relevant disease who participates or has participated as an active research team member on an equal basis with professional researchers, thus adding the value of experiential knowledge to a research project.
    De Wit M, et al. European League Against Rheumatism recommendations for the inclusion of patient representatives in scientific projects. Annals of the rheumatic diseases 2011;70(5):722-6.
    eular.org
    Europe
  • 2010: The University of the West of England (UWE)The University of the West of England (UWE) rheumatology group is involved in projects of regional, national, and global significance.www.uwe.ac.uk rheumatology group publishes a dedicated paper Patient collaboration in the design of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: Capturing the Experience of Fatigue in Rheumatoid Arthritis
    Nicklin J, et al. Collaboration with patients in the design of patient-reported outcome measures: Capturing the experience of fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Care & Research 2010;62(11):1552-8.
    on patient-researcher collaboration in the development of a new patient-reported outcome (PRO) for fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis (BRAF). United Kingdom. Measures were updated in 2017.Bristol rheumatoid arthritis fatigue scales (BRAFS) are free to use for clinical or academic reasons.
    www1.uwe.ac.uk/
  • 2011: European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) EULAR is the organization that represents the people with arthritis/rheumatism, health professionals (HPR), and scientific societies of rheumatology of all the European nations. The aims of EULAR are to reduce the burden of rheumatic diseases on the individual and society and to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal diseases. To this end, EULAR fosters excellence in education and research in the field of rheumatology. It promotes the translation of research advances into daily care and fights for the recognition of the needs of people with musculoskeletal diseases by the governing bodies in Europe.
    www.eular.org
    establishes the network of Patient Research Partners and develops patient engagement Reference Cards and Background document (download pdf). Europe
  • 2012: INVOLVEINVOLVE, Establishment 1996 and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to support active public involvement in National Health Services (NHS) public health and social care research. As a national advisory group, the role of INVOLVE is to bring together expertise, insight, and experience in the field of public involvement in research (PIR), with the aim of advancing it as an essential part of the process by which research is identified, prioritized, designed, conducted and disseminated.
    www.invo.org.uk
    publishes updated briefing notes for researchers (download pdf). INVOLVE notes some of the content is drawn from earlier editions is substantially different in its content, reflecting the changing environment since the original briefing notes were written in 2004. United Kingdom

CoPI: Patient Research Partners (PRPs), Public Involvement in Research (PIR)/Patient and Public Involvement in Research (PPI)

Tools: Recommendations – patient-researcher engagement; Reports – patient researcher engagement; Guidance documents – patient researcher engagement and briefing notes

Context: Guideline development, Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) 

Concepts of Patient Involvement (CoPI) change the paradigm for patient engagement in research

Concepts of Patient Involvement (CoPI) change the paradigm for patient engagement in research

 

  • 2011: Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR): Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Canadian Institutes of Health Research played a prominent role in the launch, implementation, and oversight of SPOR, but represents only one in a multitude of partners.cihr-irsc.gc.ca.html establishes a Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research SPOR is a collaboration of researchers, patients, provinces and territories, health care professionals, and others – all working in partnership to integrate research into patient care, ultimately improving the health of Canadians. cihr-irsc.gc.ca (SPOR) to integrate evidence in all levels of the health care system.
  • 2012: Patient Research Partner (PRP): Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) GRAPPA is organized exclusively for non-profit, educational, and scientific purposes, specifically to facilitate the sharing of information related to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, networking among different medical disciplines that see psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients, and to enhance research, diagnosis, and treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
    grappanetwork.org
    invites Patient Research Partners for the first time. In 2015, a team of Patient Research Partners was permanently added to round out their perspective first report from Patient Research Partner perspective:
    De Wit M, Campbell W, FitzGerald O, Gladman DD, Helliwell PS, James J, et al. Patient Participation in Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Outcome Research: A Report from the GRAPPA 2013 Annual Meeting. The Journal of Rheumatology 2014;41(6):1206-11.
  • 2013: Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET)COMET brings together people interested in the development and application of agreed standardized sets of outcomes, known as ‘Core Outcome Sets’ (COS). These sets represent the minimum that should be measured and reported in all clinical trials of a specific condition, but COS are also suitable for use in routine care, clinical audit, and research other than randomized trials.
    comet-initiative.org
    & the International Dermatology Outcome Measures (IDEOM)(IDEOM) is a non-profit organization seeking to develop and validate measures throughout dermatology with an initial focus on psoriatic disease. They strive for the establishment of patient-centric outcomes to enhance the research and treatment of dermatological conditions. Launched in 2013, IDEOM seeks to bring together physicians, researchers, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, payers, and patients from around the globe to develop and validate measures throughout the field of dermatology with an initial focus on psoriasis.
    dermoutcomes.org
    collaborate with Outcome Measures in Rheumatology OMERACTOMERACT is a global community for the development of Core Outcome Sets in the field of rheumatology. Patients participate as research partners in all phases of the research and are equal members in any OMERACT working group.
    omeract.org
    to adopt the patient-centered approach of developing core outcome sets with full involvement of patients.

 

CoPI: Patient Research Partner (PRP), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR), Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR), conference participant

Context: Clinical trials, assessing grant applications, Core Outcome Set (COS)

As the value of patient engagement evolves, so does guidance and outcome focus

As the value of patient engagement evolves, so does guidance and outcome focus

As the decade progresses, international efforts to expand the patient voice in rheumatology research continues. As a result, more programs that focus on patient-reported needs, guidance for involving patients in research, and reports that assess patient involvement emerge.

  • 2013: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)PCORI is an independent nonprofit, nongovernmental organization and was authorized by Congress in 2010. PCORI is the largest funder of comparative effectiveness research (CER) in the United States with the mandate to improve the quality and relevance of evidence available to help patients, caregivers, clinicians, employers, insurers, and policymakers make better-informed health decisions. In addition to requiring patient and stakeholder engagement in PCORI funded research, PCORI also engages the public through its own institutional activities, such as Merit Review, which includes patients and stakeholders as reviewers of research applications, ensuring dollars spent are aligned with research outcomes that are meaningful to the patient population. www.pcori.org began the novel funding opportunity, Eugene Washington Engagement Awards ProgramThe Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award program, named in honor of the first chair of PCORI’s Board of Governors, is intended to bring more patients, caregivers, clinicians, and other healthcare stakeholders into the research process. The goal is to support projects that will build a community better able to participate in patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) and comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) and serve as channels to disseminate study results. www.pcori.org/engagement , which supports projects that will build a community better able to participate in patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) and comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) and serve as channels to disseminate study results. Example of award: Matching Actions to Needs: What Matters Most to the Arthritis Community? (download pdf) – Arthritis Foundation, United States
  • 2014: Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR)Endorses the active partnership of patients, researchers, health professionals and decision-makers in research so as to build a sustainable and accessible health care system that optimizes the health of Canadian citizens. cihr-irsc.gc.ca publishes A Resource Guide for Research Teams and Networks (download pdf), a living guide to support researchers, decision-makers and other relevant stakeholders involved in a wide range of SPOR-related activitiesThis resource aims to:
    1) Clarify key concepts and terms relevant to involving patients in health research such as what we mean by patients, the public and stakeholders, and the different levels and types of involvement, and the rationales and perceived benefits of patient involvement
    2) Describe, at a very high level, the current state of the evidence about patient engagement with respect to the effectiveness of different methods in relation
    to process and outcome measures
    3) Assemble in one place, a selection of resource documents collected from leading patient engagement organizations around the world to provide basic guidance for researchers about principles and methods for involving patients
    in health research. 
  • 2014: Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA)Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) is organized exclusively for non-profit, educational, and scientific purposes, specifically to facilitate the sharing of information related to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, networking among different medical disciplines that see psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients, and to enhance research, diagnosis, and treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
    www.grappanetwork.org
    publishes Patient Participation in Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Outcome Research report (download pdf), co-authored by Patient Research Partners (PRPs)Patient Research Partner (PRP) is defined as a person with a relevant disease who participates or has participated as an active research team member on an equal basis with professional researchers, thus adding the value of experiential knowledge to a research project. After this publication, GRAPPA publishes annual patient reports through 2018.
  • 2014: Cochrane Musculoskeletal Consumer Group (CMSG)Formed in 1993, enlisting patient systematic reviewers to join health care professionals and researchers belonging to Cochrane. “The feedback provides a layperson’s perspective to complement the feedback provided by our clinical experts.” musculoskeletal.cochrane.org updates recommendations to aid knowledge translation and exchange between clinicians and consumers (download pdf).

 

CoPI: Patient Research Partners (PRPs), Patient-Oriented Research (POR), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR)

Tools: Guidance – patient-researcher engagement;  Reports – patient researcher engagement, patient engagement, and dissemination; Instruments – patient engagement

Context: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs), Clinical Effectiveness Research (CER)/decision science, dissemination/knowledge translation

2015

Patient Engagement in the Regulatory Process – Tools Emerge

Patient Engagement in the Regulatory Process – Tools Emerge

Patient testimony in the regulatory process expands in the second half of this decade and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) evaluation of new medicines (United States). During clinical trials, researchers study whether new medicines are safe and effective for patients and whether the medicine’s benefits outweigh the risks.
www.fda.gov
and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) EMA is a decentralized agency of the European Union (EU) responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision, and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU www.ema.europa.eu join forces!

In addition to the European Medicines Agency EMA recently revising their original framework for interaction between the agency and patients and consumers and their organizations (2014) (download pdf):

  • 2015: The FDA launches the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC)Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) – Food and Drug Administration (FDA) committee providing advice to the Commissioner or designee on complex issues relating to medical devices, the regulation of devices, and their use by patients.
    www.fda.gov/patients
    to provide advice relating to medical devices (download pdf). CoPI: Patient Preference Information (PPI)PPI: Qualitative or quantitative assessments of the relative desirability or acceptability to patients of specified alternatives or choices among outcomes or other attributes that differ among alternative health interventions. is established to describe this patient engagement. PPI framework and guidance released for the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)(CDRH) recognizes that scientists, clinicians, device developers, and regulators play critical roles in evaluating and communicating the benefits and risks of medical devices. However, only patients live with their medical conditions and make daily choices regarding their health care. Their voice and perspective are critical to understanding the impact of medical devices.
    www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-organization
    medical device decision-making.
  • 2016: FDA and the EMA create a new workgroup on patient engagement called the FDA/EMA Patient Engagement ClusterWork group that allows FDA and EMA to share best practices involving patients along drug and biologic regulatory lifecycles. Information that is discussed is covered by confidentiality agreements signed by the FDA and EMA.
    www.fda.gov/patients
    to share best practices involving patients along with drug and biologic regulatory lifecycles.
  • 2017: FDA launches Patient Engagement Collaborative The Patient Engagement Collaborative (PEC) is a group of patient organizations and individual representatives who discuss how to achieve more meaningful patient engagement in medical product development and other regulatory discussions at the FDA. The PEC was established by the FDA and the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), a public-private partnership that brings together organizations and individuals representing academia, clinical investigators, government and regulatory agencies, industry, institutional review boards, patient advocacy groups and others to develop evidence-based solutions to clinical research challenges. www.fda.gov/patients with the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI)The FDA, together with the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative, established a group of patient organization and individual representatives to discuss topics focusing on enhancing patient engagement in medical product development and regulatory discussions at FDA.
    www.ctti-clinicaltrials.org/
    to develop guidance materials (download pdf) for including patients in the R & D continuum. This collaborative was modeled after the European Medicines Agency (EMA)’s Patients’ and Consumers’ Working PartyEMA is a decentralized agency of the European Union (EU) responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision, and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU. The Patients’ and Consumers’ Working Party (PCWP) provides a platform for exchange of information and discussion of issues of common interest between EMA and patients and consumers. www.ema.europa.eu/en/committees.
  • 2017: EMA involves young people in their activities and establishes the principles for the involvement of young patients, consumers, and their carers, in the Agency’s scientific committees and working parties in a consistent and efficient manner (download pdf).
  • 2017: EMA begins holding public hearings to give European citizens a voice in the evaluation of the safety of medicines and empower them to express their views on issues related to the safety of certain medicines and the management of risks.
  • 2017: EMA expands opportunities to acquire patients’ perspectives on benefit/risk considerations within the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP)(CHMP) is the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) committee responsible for human medicines. The CHMP replaced the former Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP) in May 2004.www.ema.europa.eu/en/committees meetings.

CoPI: Regulatory reviewers, working groups, advisory panels, Patient Preference Information (PPI)

Tools: Frameworks – regulatory; Guidance Documents – patient engagement

Context: Regulatory process, clinical trials, Research & Development, health technology assessment (HTA), decision aids, young adults

the ACTion Council is established

the ACTion Council is established

Led by patients who have helped shaped patient engagement in this space, the ACTion CouncilLearn more about the ACTion Council at www.rheumactioncouncil.org unites a global representation of key stakeholders in the rheumatology research community to record the history of patient engagement and track its continued expansion so efforts are not duplicated, value measurements can be improved, and new initiatives can evolve from existing successes.

CoPI: Co-production of Stakeholder Groups

Additional frameworks, recommendations, and reviews

Additional frameworks, recommendations, and reviews

 

  • 2015: Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT)OMERACT is a global community for the development of Core Outcome Sets in the field of rheumatology. Patients participate as research partners in all phases of the research and are equal members in any OMERACT working group.https://omeract.org publishes recommendations for collaborative research Cheung PP, et al. Recommendations for the Involvement of Patient Research Partners (PRP) in OMERACT Working Groups. A Report from the OMERACT 2014 Working Group on PRP. The Journal of rheumatology 2016;43(1):187-932015
    https://omeractprpnetwork.org
    .
  • 2015: With funding from European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)EULAR is the organization that represents people with arthritis/rheumatism, health professionals (HPR), and scientific societies of rheumatology of all the European nations. The aims of EULAR are to reduce the burden of rheumatic diseases on the individual and society and to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal diseases. To this end, EULAR fosters excellence in education and research in the field of rheumatology. It promotes the translation of research advances into daily care and fights for the recognition of the needs of people with musculoskeletal diseases by the governing bodies in Europe. As such, they have always had their own educational program at the annual EULAR Congress meeting, but in the earlier years, the symposia they organized was mostly independent of the other congress sessions. eular.org, a mixed task force of researchers and patient research partners from over ten European countries develops a new patient derived Health Related Quality of Life instrumentde Wit MPT, Kvien TK, Gossec L. Patient participation as an integral part of patient-reported outcomes development ensures the representation of the patient voice: a case study from the field of rheumatology. RMD Open 2015;1:e000129. doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2015-000129
    www.eular.org
    for rheumatoid arthritis (RAID) and psoriatic arthritis (PsAID) (download pdf).
  • 2016: European Patients’ Academy (EUPATI)EUPATI is a pan-European project implemented as a public-private partnership by a collaborative multi-stakeholder consortium from the pharmaceutical industry, academia, not-for-profit, and patient organizations. The Academy was started, developed and implemented as a flagship project of the Innovative Medicines Initiative and continues to be led by the European Patients’ Forum (EPF). EUPATI has already trained 96 patient experts on medicines development, clinical trials, medicines regulations, health technology assessment. Additionally, EUPATI offers and maintains the Toolbox on Medicine Development, and coordinates a network of national platforms for patient advocates.https://eupati.eu offers and maintains the Toolbox on Medicine Research & Development and Patient EngagementLearn more about this tool at https://toolbox.eupati.eu/.
  • EUPATI coordinates the network of national platforms for patient advocates National Platforms bring patient, academic, and industry partners together to discuss patient education and patient involvement in medicines research and development (R&D). Working together, National Platforms raise awareness about the important role of patients, and members identify challenges and opportunities for joint action.
    https://www.eupati.eu/
    .

CoPI: Patient Research Partner (PRP)

Tools: Recommendations – patient researcher engagement; Instruments – patient-researcher engagement

Context: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs), Research & Development

Value-Based Health Care

Value-Based Health Care

2019: International Consortium for Health Outcome Measurement (ICHOM)International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) aims to unlock the potential of value-based healthcare by defining global Standard Sets of outcome measures that matter most to patients and driving adoption and reporting of these measures worldwide to create better value for all stakeholders.
https://ichom.org
unites an international working group – including patients – to develop the Inflammatory Arthritis Standard Set (download pdf) to enable health care providers to implement the value-based health care framework and compare outcomes that are important to patients with inflammatory arthritis.  (Covers patients with rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.)

CoPI: Working groups

Tools: Guidance Documents – value-based healthcare

Context: Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs), value-based health care, core outcome sets (COS)

2020

Rheumatology Registries and Research Front and Center

Rheumatology Registries and Research Front and Center

With the onset of the global pandemic of COVID-19COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that emerged in December 2019. www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus , rheumatology registries – come existing and some forming solely for this reason – began focusing strongly on tracking cases in rheumatology patients. Some of these registries included the patient voice in various phases of data collection.

  • 2020: COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance (GRA)The mission of the GRA is to collect, analyze and disseminate information about COVID-19 and rheumatology to patients, physicians, and other relevant groups to improve the care of patients with rheumatic disease.
    rheum-covid.org/
    was developed to collect, analyze, and disseminate information about COVID-19 and rheumatology to patients, physicians, and other relevant groups to improve the care of patients with rheumatic disease. In addition to establishing a Patient Board, patients were invited to submit and review questions as part of the Patient Experience Survey and help develop lay summaries. International
  • 2020: The Arthritis & Rheumatic Disease COVID-19 Project From conception to development and launch, the Arthritis and Rheumatic Disease COVID-19 project included patients during all phases of the project, which began by learning about the impact of COVID-19 on people who are living with underlying chronic disease through multiple conversations. Patients also collaborated with researchers and clinicians to help develop and refine the survey, prioritize survey questions, provide input on the study timeline, and strategize on dissemination efforts.
    rheumcovid19project.org/
    – A patient-powered study of the Autoimmune Research Collaborative, from conception to development and launch, the Arthritis and Rheumatic Disease COVID-19 project included patients during all phases of the project. Respondents are asked to participate at multiple time points to better understand concerns, behaviors, and the pandemic’s overall impact on them over time. The study will also inform the preparedness of patients and clinicians for future pandemics and provide a better understanding of concerns with infection in general among patients with autoimmune disease. Led by Global Healthy Living Foundation/CreakyJoints. United States, Canada

CoPI: Advisory panel, working group, co-production of stakeholder groups

Context: Registries, lay summaries, dissemination (knowledge translation)

Cool Timeline

1991

EULAR Congress Inclusion of Patients

EULAR Congress Inclusion of Patients

1973: In 1973, "Social Leagues" - which were the patient organizations - officially joined the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR)EULAR is the organization that represents people with arthritis/rheumatism, health professionals (HPR), and scientific societies of rheumatology of all the European nations. The aims of EULAR are to reduce..Read More

1993

Patient Engagement – And We’re Off!

Patient Engagement – And We’re Off!

While patient engagement in other disease groups started a decade prior, patient involvement in rheumatology research started in the late 1990’s in Canada and around 2000 in Europe. Partly due to regulatory barriers between patients and pharmaceutical companies at that time, early patient involvement focused strongly on non-pharmacologic research (government,..Read More

1996

INVOLVE is established to support public involvement in research

INVOLVE is established to support public involvement in research

1996: INVOLVEINVOLVE was established 1996 and is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to support active public involvement in National Health Services (NHS) public health and social care research. As a national advisory group the role of INVOLVE is to bring together expertise, insight, and experience in..Read More

1998

Patient research collaboration in rheumatology begins in Canada

Patient research collaboration in rheumatology begins in Canada

1998: First self-governed Consumer Advisory Council (CAC)The mission of the Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) is to advocate for consumers and provide for strong public and consumer input in healthcare reform policies in Connecticut. The purpose of the Consumer Advisory Council is to ensure significant consumer participation in the planning and implementation..Read More

2000

Patients included in the regulatory process

Patients included in the regulatory process

While not specific to rheumatology, including patients in the regulatory process paves the way for advances in therapeutic outcomes. 2000: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) EMA is a decentralized agency of the European Union (EU) responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision, and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU www.ema.europa.eu invites..Read More

2002

Patients are invited to join the rheumatology research team

Patients are invited to join the rheumatology research team

2002: Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) OMERACT is a global community for the development of Core Outcome Sets in the field of rheumatology. Patients participate as research partners in all phases of the research and are equal members in any OMERACT working group. www.omeract.org invites patients to participate for the..Read More

Databanks and Registries

Databanks and Registries

Databanks and registries in the rheumatology community began actively collecting relevant data from patients that can be used in both non-pharmaceutical and drug development research efforts. However, most registries - while rheumatology in nature - typically only include patients as respondents. However, groups such as FORWARD, The National Databank for..Read More

Young people and families are included in research

Young people and families are included in research

  2002: The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) Founded by a small group of pediatric rheumatologists who aimed to create an investigator-led collaborative research network by establishing a registry. The information is provided by the medical team and by patients and their families. The registry was created to..Read More

2005

Rheumatology guidance begins

Rheumatology guidance begins

2005: Cochrane Musculoskeletal (CM)Cochrane Musculoskeletal (CM) is made up of health care professionals, researchers and consumer representatives that belong to Cochrane, an international, non-profit organization that aims to help people make well-informed decisions about health care by preparing, maintaining and promoting reviews on the effects of health care treatments. They..Read More

2007

EULAR PARE Established

EULAR PARE Established

In 2007, the patient initiative of 'PARE manifesto' (which started in 1989) and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)EULAR is the organization that represents people with arthritis/rheumatism, health professionals (HPR), and scientific societies of rheumatology of all the European nations. The aims of EULAR are to reduce the burden of..Read More