Volume 6, Number 4

Ray Armstrong FRCP Lead Consultant Rheumatologist, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust; Clinical Lead for the Musculoskeletal and Orthopaedic Specialist Libraries

The term ‘information overload’ is a cliché – the relentless increase in published research makes it seem impossible to keep abreast of developments. The internet has revolutionised access to this knowledge. Clinicians’ working lives are being transformed by these changes.

Paul Emery, Editor

Can there be anyone who does not suffer from information overload? Ray Armstrong, with his extensive experience in this area, provides some very practical advice (on page 11) as well as useful contacts for medics and healthcare professionals involved in managing patients. He points out the value of the NHS National Library for Health, and more specifically the Musculoskeletal Specialist Library, as being sources of calm in the storm of unsolicited information. He also provides an exhortation for involvement in a new three-year phase of the contract that is now being entered into – a chance for all of us to be influential.

Louise Warburton MBChB DRCOG DFFP MRCGP GP, Shawbirch Medical Practice, Telford; GP with Special Interest in Musculoskeletal Medicine, Telford and Wrekin Primary Care Trust

Rheumatic diseases do not affect the sexes equally and, most unfairly, there is a definite female to male preponderance. Certainly those of us who work in rheumatology units will be aware that females make up the larger part of the units’ patient population.

David L Scott BSc MD FRCP Professor of Clinical Rheumatology, King’s College School of Medicine, London

Both as individuals and as a society, we invariably seek a good quality of life (QoL). The term transcends economics, politics and health. Wealth, freedom and art all contribute towards quality of life; it is enmeshed within our appreciation of happiness and wellbeing. However, in addition to its overall use, QoL has been widely adopted in healthcare.

Anne-Marie Skellett MB BChir Specialist Registrar in Dermatology; Clive Grattan MD FRCP Dermatology Consultant, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust

This review will discuss the most common cutaneous features associated with rheumatological conditions, and their management.

Joel Barrick BA MA Sub Editor, Hayward Medical Communications, London

At this year’s West Midlands Rheumatology Forum, ‘Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain – Beyond Taking The Tablets’, Chair Dr Rainer Klocke, Consultant Rheumatologist at The Dudley Group of Hospitals, opened by saying that in understanding patients’ experience of pain, healthcare professionals are better placed to help them come to terms with it. The task for the meeting was, therefore, to try and understand what interventions, beyond medication, enable patients to move on with their life despite chronic pain.