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Renew Your Membership Today!
It's time to renew your membership for the 2009-2010 membership year. You can renew on-line or download a printable membership application.

Membership dues will increase to $40.00 effective November 1, 2009 so hurry and join now at the current rate of $30 while you still can!

Please know your Board of Directors is working hard on your behalf.

Thank you again for your support.
Board of Directors SPAR

SPAR at ACR
SPAR is planning on a floor exhibit in Philadelphia on the 19th and 20th of October, 2009. Please stop by and meet your fellow rheumatology PAs. If you have not joined please fill out an application. Talk with your fellow rheumatology PAs. Find out the latest salary data, employer benefits, where we practice and what we do for procedures.

See you in Philadelphia!

The Association of Family Practice PAs and SPAR co-hosted an exhibit table at the San Diego Convention Center during the AAPA annual conference.

SPAR had two successful events:

SPAR CME/Reception held Sunday, May 24th, 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
SPAR Business meeting held Tuesday, May 26th, 12:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Many PAs from our specialty came by to look over our salary data, read our Newsletter and just discuss our commonality in rheumatology. We are planning to be at the ACR in Philadelphia this fall so mark your calendar and stay tuned for more information!

Salary Data
The 2008 Census report for rheumatology PAs has been drafted. Find out what rheumatology PAs are making for salary, if they are taking call, and what kind of procedures they are doing.

Compare salaries to Internal Medicine PAs across the country. Compare the mean with the Standard deviation and find out the range of salaries from the national AAPA census.

What is the mean age and the sex of practicing PAs in rheumatology? For the specifics, please go to the Professional Practice tab for this informative report.

1. Special Announcement about COX-2 NSAIDS and traditional NSAIDS. December 23, 2004.

2. Effect of Maximal Daily Doses of Acetaminophen on the liver of alcoholic patients; A randomized, Double-blind, Placebo- controlled trial. Kuffner, EK, et al. Arch Intern Med 161:2247-52, Oct 8, 2001.

3. Pain Reduction at Venipuncture in Newborns: Oral glucose compared with local anesthetic cream. Gradin, M et al. Pediatrics, 110(6): 1053-57, Dec 2002.

4. A Physician Assistant Rheumatology Fellowship. Department of Veterans Affairs, Dallas, Texas. R. Hooker. April 2004.

5. Cyclobenzaprine With Ibuprofen Versus Ibuprofen Alone in Acute Myofascial Strain: A randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Turturro, MA, et al. Ann Emerg Med 41: 818-826, June 2003.

6. Are selective COX-2 inhibitors superior to traditional non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs? Juni P, et al. BMJ USA 2: 520- 2, Sept 2002 and BMJ 324: 1287-8, June 1,2002.

7. A randomized, clinical trial comparing oral celecoxib 200mg, celecoxib 400mg and ibuprofen 600mg for acute pain. Salo, OF, et al. Acad Emerg Med 10: 22-30, Jan 2003.

8. Corticosteroid injections, physiotherapy, or a wait-and-see policy for lateral epicondylitis: A randomized controlled trial. Smidt, N, et al, Lancet 359(9307): 657, Feb 23, 2002.

9. Time to abandon the "tendonitis" myth: Painful, overuse tendon" conditions have a non-inflammatory pathology. Khan KM, et al. BMJ 324: 626-7, March 16, 2002.

10. AFPPA News Release. Contact: Rose Phillips, AFPPA administrator, (877) 890-0181, afppa@afppa.org, www.afppa.org.

11. The COX-2 inhibitors: Are they really as good as they are cracked up to be? Gastrointestinal toxicity with Celocoxib vs. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis. The CLASS Study. Silverstein FE., et al. JAMA 284(10): 1247-1255.

12. Safety and efficacy of S-Adenosylmethionine (SAME) for osteoarthritis: A meta-analysis. Soeken KL, et al. Jour Fam Pract 51(6): 425-430, May 2002.

13. Consumption of NSAID's and the Development of Congestive Heart Failure in Elderly Patients: An Under recognized Public Health Problem. Page, J. and Henry, D. Arch Intern Mod 160: 777-784, Mar 27, 2000.

14. Severity of knee pain does not predict a better response to an anti-inflammatory does of ibuprofen than to analgesic therapy in patients with osteoarthritis. Bradley, JD, et al. J Rheumatol 28: 1073-6, 2001.

15. Efficacy of rofecoxib, celecoxib, and acetaminophen in osteoarthritis of the knee. A randomized trial. Geba, GP, et al. JAMA 287(l): 64-71, January 2, 2002.

16. Risk of Cardiovascular Events associated with selective COX-2 Inhibitors. Mukherjee, D. et al. JAMA 286 (8): 954-959, August 22/29, 2001.

17. Cycicoxygenase inhibitors and the antiplatelet effects of aspirin. Catelia- Lawson, F., et al. NEJM 345 (25): 1809-1817, December 20, 2001.

18. Comparison of Upper Gastrointestinal Toxicity of Rofecoxib and naproxen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. (The VIGOR Trial) Bombradier C., et al. NEJM, Nov. 23, 2000, Vol 343, (21), 1520-1528.

19. Physician Assistants are needed In Rheumatology. By: Jama Shoemaker, November 3, 2002