Key Points For Rheumatoid Arthritis For Your Nursing School Exams

17 Jan 2025 · 1 min

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In this brief instructional video, the presenter highlights a crucial exam point for nursing students: rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is distinguished by bilateral joint involvement—both sides of the same joint (e.g., both knees, both wrists) are affected—whereas osteoarthritis (OA) typically involves only one side. The speaker also notes that RA is an autoimmune systemic inflammatory disorder, emphasizing its systemic nature compared to the more localized degenerative process of OA. This contrast is presented as a hallmark sign to remember for nursing school examinations.

Chapters

Here's a hallmark sign to know for rheumatoid arthritis for your nursing school exams. Your nursing school exams are going to test you on this, the difference between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. And it is this, that in rheumatoid arthritis, there's bilateral joints affected, which means both sides. So both of the knees or both of the hips or both of the wrists on each side for the patient are going to be affected in rheumatoid arthritis. Now, this is very different than osteoarthritis, which only affects one side. So in rheumatoid arthritis, there's bilateral joints effective. This is an autoimmune systemic inflammatory disorder.