A Reading on

“Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Brief Overview of the Treatment”

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements on NCM 207 RLE

PRE-CLINICAL ROTATION

Submitted to:

Rodeliza Faith Booc-Guillermo, RN, MN

Clinical Instructor

Submitted by:

Jianne Denise P. Calo, St. N

BSN 2Q – Group 1 Subgroup 2

August 25, 2022

Bibliography

Bullock J, Rizvi SAA, Saleh AM, Ahmed SS, Do DP, Ansari RA, Ahmed J. Rheumatoid Arthritis: A
Brief Overview of the Treatment. Med Princ Pract. 2018;27(6):501-507. Published online 2018 Sep
2. doi: 10.1159/000493390

Summary

Rheumatoid Arthritis is an inflammatory and chronic autoimmune disease which mainly affects the
joints with severeness varying among patients. It also progresses to larger joints, and through time,
may affect the skin, kidneys, heart, and eyes. Some risk factors of rheumatoid arthritis include
gender, genetics, age, and environmental exposures such as the use of tobacco, exposed to air
pollution. Rheumatoid Arthritis often destroys the bond and cartilage of joints and weakens the
ligaments and tendons. Damage caused by this leads to deformities and bone erosion, that usually
cause chronic pain and discomfort to patients. Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis include joint
stiffness during mornings that lasts more or less 30 minutes, fever, weight loss, fever, and nodules
under the skin. This usually affects patients aged 35-60 years old, with exacerbation and remission.
The clinical diagnosis of RA can be differentiated from osteoarthritis as the areas affected by
Rheumatoid Arthritis are proximal interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal joints. On the other
hand, Osteoarthritis usually affects the distal interphalangeal joint and is the most common type of
arthritis. The overall goal of the treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis promotes remission by slowing or
stopping the progress of destruction of joints which causes deformity. Nowadays, medications are
considered to be slow-acting drugs due to the fact that they take weeks or months to show its
efficacy.

Reactions

Personally, I agree with this article mainly because the facts stated in this article are clinically studied
and have credible sources. I realized that there are a lot of differences between Rheumatoid Arthritis
and Osteoarthritis mainly because both of them affects different joints of the body. In my opinion, the
article I read has a great impact on my personal knowledge, mainly because of the risk factors and
the brief overview of this article regarding the risk factors and how this particular disease affects the
joints stated above. In this article, the positive impact of this article is that I gained knowledge about
different types of treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis such as undergoing therapeutic practices and
surgery which is supported by medications prescribed by the physician. It could also impact people’s
lives by changing their lifestyle before Rheumatoid Arthritis could even occur. It has also been found
that patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis who undergo Physical and Occupational Therapy have
benefitted massively. A nursing implication of Rheumatoid Arthritis is that if the patient's lifestyle
choices include smoking, drinking, a poor diet, and being overweight, the patient is at risk for
Rheumatoid Arthritis. As a result, if Rheumatoid Arthritis is not treated early, it can progress and have
a serious effect on daily life and one's capacity to function. The nurse should encourage the patient to
have an intensive treatment of early Rheumatoid Arthritis that can prevent joint degeneration and
enhance overall quality of life.