When Patients Write the Guidelines: Patient Panel Recommendations for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective: How best to involve patients in the development of clinical practice guideline (CPG) recommendations is not known. We sought to determine the feasibility and value of developing CPG recommendations based on a voting panel composed entirely of patients, with the ultimate goal of comparing the patients' recommendations to ones developed by a physician-dominated voting panel on the same clinical questions.

Methods: Ten patients with rheumatoid arthritis completed 8 hours of training on evidence-based medicine and guideline development.

Inappropriate home albuterol use during an acute asthma exacerbation.

Background: Increased asthma morbidity and mortality is associated with inappropriate home self-management skills.

Objectives: To examine the proportion of children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with an acute asthma exacerbation with incorrect home use of their albuterol inhaler and to identify factors associated with improper treatment.

Methods: Caregivers of children with asthma aged 4 to 14 years, presenting to the ED with an asthma exacerbation, participated in the study.