Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Patient or consumer involvement in research is widely recommended, but although guidelines for researchers and patients have been produced, few practical experiences have been published and involvement remains fragile. This article reports the combined experiences of researchers and patients who are collaborating in rheumatology research, and the working model that has evolved. The article provides one example of a practical model for collaboration based on experience.
Hewlett et al. (2006) studied this question.