[A new patient education program: vasculitis]

Referring to the literature it is known that structured standardized patient education represents an effective additional treatment in patients with chronic diseases. Programs base on cognitive behavioral interventions. Within the last years an interdisciplinary approach for providing information on disease, therapies, side effects, coping strategies, nutrition and physiotherapy has been developed for patients with primary systemic vasculitides (PSV) in the vasculitis center Medical University of Luebeck/Bad Bramstedt. The contents of the seminars were revised and condensed into five modules. To evaluate the new program a documentation system consisting of patient and physician- administered questionnaires assessing socioeconomic, knowledge and disease-related outcome-parameters has been designed. Patients completed the questionnaires at baseline, 4 weeks, 6 and 12 months after training. First results show statistically significant improvement of knowledge and health-related quality of life.