Rheumatology Centre - Care Team

• The clinical pharmacist works together with the rheumatology health care team to help answer any questions or concerns you may have regarding your medications. Some of the services that our clinical pharmacist offers include:
  • Counselling on how rheumatic medications work, how they should be taken, potential side effects and other important points to note
  • Following-up with patients to determine how a medication is being tolerated and strategies to help minimize side effects
  • Obtaining a full history of each patient’s medications (including prescription and over-the-counter medications as well as natural health products) and recommending any changes if drug interactions or side effects are identified
  • Counselling on intravenous medications during a patient’s first visit to our infusion room
  • Injection training for subcutaneous injections
  • Providing smoking cessation resources for patients (smoking causes inflammation in the body and can also reduce the effectiveness of medications)

If you have questions about how your medications work, how to take them properly or how to reduce side effects, feel free to ask your rheumatologist for a consultation with our pharmacist.

A group of specially trained nurses work within the infusion centre, which is located within the Rheumatology clinic. Some of the services offered in our infusion centre include:

• Administration of intravenous and/or injection medications
• Tuberculosis skin testing

• Bloodwork

Physiotherapists (PTs) help individuals improve strength, function, and mobility. PTs also assist with posture and body mechanics, balance, exercise tolerance and pain management. Individualized exercise programs are prescribed for each patient. PTs can also help patients find the right community exercise program that suits their needs. Feel free to ask your rheumatologist for a consultation with our physiotherapist.

Occupational therapists (OTs) help patients manage pain, increase activity tolerance and find new ways to perform self-care, homemaking, leisure or work activities. OTs provide education on activity pacing, posture, modifying activities, joint protection strategies, sleep management and assistive devices. OT can also provide splints, orthotics and hand therapy. Feel free to ask your rheumatologist for a consultation with our Occupational Therapist.

Social workers in our Rheumatology Centre help patients navigate some of the challenges that can accompany or complicate a health care issue. Living with financial stress, dealing with a lack of medication coverage, navigating the disability application processes and/or trying to find supports in the community can all complicate pain management. Register for a workshop to explore solutions and Feel free to ask your rheumatologist for a consultation with our Social Worker. Individual support is available as needed.

Most of our rheumatologists accept referrals for general rheumatology problems. We also conduct some subspecialized multidisciplinary clinics in the following areas:

• Behcet, stills, and autoinflammatory diseases (with pediatric rheumatology)
• Myositis multidisciplinary clinic (with neurology)
• Osteoarthritis clinical trials clinic
• Osteoarthritis multidisciplinary alignment clinic
• Psoriatic arthritis research clinic
• Scleroderma research clinic
• Spondylitis research clinic
• Systemic lupus erythematosus research clinic
• Vasculitis multidisciplinary clinic (with nephrology and neurology)