Improving management of gout

Objectives

Gout is a rheumatological condition that can have a huge negative impact on quality of life, yet many patients suffer unnecessarily as their condition is under treated.

This programme needed to tackle the problem from three angles:

• Attitudes: increase awareness of the effects of untreated gout, and tackle misconceptions about its causes and treatment;
• Knowledge : encourage patients and physicians to think beyond acute attacks, and commit to long-term treatment of the underlying chronic condition;
• Skills: improve doctors’ confidence in regularly monitoring patients and adjusting treatment plans based on their findings.

Our approach

Pharmacom Media convened a meeting of rheumatologists from European countries, plus a faculty of internationally known experts.

The faculty gave presentations on key topics in gout management; the real focus of the meeting, however, was the discussion sessions, based around real case studies submitted by the delegates. These breakout sessions gave the group an opportunity to review and discuss the challenging clinical cases submitted by their peers, and the management strategies that could have been used.

Finally, the meeting closed with a consensus plenary session. Moderated by the faculty, the whole audience were able to give their views on some key topics in gout.

Outcome

Off the back of the well-received meeting, a series of further activities have been planned:

• Website: hosting interactive learning resources, including quizzes based on the case studies
• Meeting report: including a summary of the consensus discussion
• Videos: interviews with faculty and delegates
• Second meeting: scheduled for early 2019