OP0025-PARE Informative and Preventive Campaigns at The City Councils in The Galician Region
Authors: A.I. Vázquez Lojo, V. Romero Pazos, C. Van Riel, F.J. Carreira Roca
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2016)

<h3>Background</h3> There are more than 250 types of rheumatic diseases (RDs), in Galicia there are 1.065.841 persons affected (40% of the population), these cause 50% of the incapacities and 20% of the medical leaves. These diseases affect children and young adults and they become chronic in most of the cases. <h3>Objectives</h3> To prevent affected population without a diagnosis. 40% of the population is affected by RDs, many of these pathologies present themselves very quietly. There are many myths around RD patients like it only affects old people or that it does not have cure, because of this many of them do not go to the doctor or they wait too long to go. It is also very common to recognize indications of denial or selfdeception. The presence of these diseases increase exponentially with the increase of the population and the actual pace of life. In Galicia this fact is aggravated because of the aging of the population and it is heading to the early appereance in people in their 40s. <h3>Methods</h3> Our team is formed by: 1 psychologist who detects pychological indications, point out the denial signs and the conflict with the illness. 1 rheumatologist who informs about the nature of the RDs. 2 occupational therapists who inform about alert signals and preventive measures of the articular damage. 1 expert patient who transmit his experience on how it feels to be affected by a RD. 1 coordinator in charge of stablising the link between the city council and our organization through scedules and coordination of the activities. We visit diferent city councils, setting up previously the dates for the general and specific informative sessions. During those sessions we detect possible profiles of denial, doubt, etc. And afterwards we do the data processing. <h3>Results</h3> Out of 100 persons that go to these informative campaigns 3 of them go to the Rheumatology Department in their Health Center and end up with a positive diagnosis. This does not mean that these are the only ones but at least we increase the consultations. We have developed a standarized quiz for the doctors to questions their patients about how they got to decide about consulting a rheumatologist. <h3>Conclusions</h3> The Galician population presents an alarming lack of awarness on how to identify RDs and it is ignoranto to its consequences. In many cases, the affected person does not go to the general practitioner and because of this he is not derivated to the rheumatologist, missing the key phase, meaning=Early diagnosis. RDs are very serious pathologies that if not treated for a long time can derivate in incapacities, joint affections and irreversible vital organs malfunction. <h3>References</h3> VV.AA. Estrategia en enfermedades reumáticas y musculoesqueléticas del Sistema Nacional de Salud. 20th December 2012. Madrid. España. VV.AA. Plan estratégico Sergas. Estrategia para el abordaje de la cronicidad. 2014. Santiago de Compostela. España. <h3>Disclosure of Interest</h3> None declared