Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences
Centre for Rheumatic Diseases

The Centre for Rheumatic Diseases was originally founded in 1995 as a joint venture between the Arthritis Foundation of Victoria, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne. Each partner contributed its expertise to support the Centre, recognising the importance of rheumatic diseases and the need to improve the academic profile of rheumatology in Victoria. 

The objectives of the Centre were:

• To improve the care and well-being of people in Victoria with various forms of arthritis and related conditions.
• To understand, control and eventually cure and prevent disease causing joint pain and disability by undertaking and stimulating basic and applied research.
• To improve the understanding of medical students, doctors, allied health professionals and the community of the effects and most appropriate management of joint disease through co-ordinated educational programs and dissemination of information.

These strategic objectives were achieved through research activities, presentation and publication of research findings, production of educational materials, medical and community education and promotion of links between organisations involved in the care and support of people with arthritis and related conditions.

The Centre ceased operations in 2009, having made significant contributions to the musculoskeletal and public health fields through its research and teaching programs.  Major projects included the development of a new system for the management and prioritisation of patients waiting for joint replacement surgery (the OA Hip and Knee Service), the development of a national quality improvement program to evaluate chronic disease self-management programs and a multi-centre randomised controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of an arthritis self-management program.  Other research undertaken at the Centre included the development and validation of evaluation tools for arthritis and other chronic diseases such as the Hip and Knee Multi-Attribute Prioritisation Tool (MAPT) and Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQTM) and the development of multimedia patient education programs and tools for assessment of patient education about medications.

Detailed information about the heiQTM and licensing arrangements can be accessed via the above link.