A Sudbury researcher’s experience with rheumatoid arthritis has inspired him to study what access to care is like for patients in northern Ontario.
Nancy Lightfoot, a professor at NOSM University and the Laurentian University School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, has launched a new qualitative study on rheumatoid arthritis.
“We’re talking to people about their experiences with this,” Lightfoot said.
“How it was accessing care, what types of medications they take, and their experiences interacting with GPs, pharmacists and rheumatologists in northeastern and northwestern Ontario.”
The Arthritis Society says rheumatoid arthritis “is an inflammatory disease that can affect several joints in the body.” Society says about 300,000 Canadians have the disease.
Lightfoot said he started feeling joint pain about three years ago and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
Her family doctor referred her to a rheumatologist in southern Ontario.
“For a while my information was lost and I hadn’t received that first appointment with the rheumatologist in a long time, which made me wonder, well, what about the others?” she said.
While he said he cares a lot about southern Ontario, once he connected with a doctor, he added that northern Ontario needs more rheumatologists.
NOSM he said last year that northern Ontario fell short of 325 doctors, including 166 specialists.
For her research project, Lightfoot said she and her colleagues, including co-researcher Dr. David Marsh, will interview patients, doctors and pharmacists in northern Ontario about their experiences with rheumatoid arthritis.
The aim is to draw a picture of what care is like in the region and where there may be room for improvement.
“It’s their experience with rheumatoid arthritis patients and what suggestions they have, for others and for other health care providers who treat and support and manage these patients,” Lightfoot said.