Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease with symmetrical multi-joint swelling and pain that is prevalent in women and can cause deformed joints and loss of joint function in later stages. Early diagnosis of rheumatoid disease requires attention to signs and symptoms, early consultation with the rheumatology department, and comprehensive and complete ancillary tests. First, it is important to pay attention to the appearance of signs and symptoms of suspected rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis mainly affects small and medium-sized joints, such as the metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints of the hands, wrist joints, elbow joints, metatarsophalangeal joints of the feet, ankle joints, etc. The knee joints are also often accumulated. Joint swelling and pain is the most common clinical manifestation in the early stage of the disease, accompanied by morning stiffness, that is, stiffness and swelling of the joints after waking up in the morning, which is reduced after activity, and morning stiffness lasts more than one hour. Secondly, it is necessary to consult the rheumatology department as soon as possible. In addition to rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and gout are the main manifestations of swollen and painful joints. Rheumatologists can make a preliminary diagnosis and differentiation based on the characteristics of the patient’s swollen and painful joints. Third, the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis needs to be confirmed by a comprehensive examination, which often provides decisive evidence for the diagnosis of the disease. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis often have positive blood tests for rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrulline antibodies, joint X-rays that show destruction of the joint surface, and joint ultrasound that shows synovial hyperplasia and joint effusion. Therefore, the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis is not a problem, as long as the signs and symptoms of suspected rheumatoid arthritis are taken into account, and patients come to the rheumatology department as soon as possible, under the guidance of rheumatologists to improve auxiliary tests, most rheumatoid arthritis can be clearly diagnosed.