I didn't attend the American College of Rheumatology's (ACR) scientific meeting in 2012 but I tried to follow the meeting on the twitter feed. I came across the image above and was immediately taken by it.
About a month ago, Erin Latimer from the ACR commented on my post - "Does it matter that Rheumatology is a Poor Brand?"
She wrote:
"This is a very timely post. I am the director of PR at the American College of Rheumatology and wanted to share with you our Simple Tasks PR campaign. This campaign is aimed at increasing the value of rheumatologists among influential audiences – those groups who make decisions that affect the rheumatology community. A key audience of the campaign is referring physicians and health professionals. I hope you will visit the campaign website at http://www.SimpleTasks.org and let me know what you think."
The bent fork image is part of the Simple Tasks campaign. I think it's a striking image and I really hope the campaign is a success.
Please look at the website (link). I quote directly from it:
"Appropriate and timely referrals, legislation that guarantees access to rheumatologists, supporting research and initiatives to grow the rheumatology workforce, and understanding the importance of the practice of rheumatology are all crucial to ensuring that more people with rheumatic diseases are treated within the window of opportunity – the first weeks and months after rheumatic disease symptom onset."
Seems a very worthwhile goal. I'm going to write to my own Australian Rheumatology Association and see if we can get involved.
Dr Irwin Lim is a rheumatologist and a director of BJC Health. You should follow him on twitter here. Arthritis requires an integrated approach. We call this, Connected Care. Contact us.