Crohn’s Disease

Providers Face Several Challenges When Diagnosing and Treating Crohn’s Disease1

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Management of irritable bowel disease (IBD) is becoming more complex despite diagnostic and therapeutic advances.

Specialized training and resources is needed for gastroenterologists, nurses, and advanced care providers. Shared decision-making between providers and patients should be improved, including in medication selection.

There is a need for ongoing support for providers in addressing patient stress, anxiety, depression, and nutrition.

Providers may find the following strategies useful to promote medication adherence2:

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  • Evaluate adherence as a vital sign at every visit
  • Ask patients if they ever miss a dose when doing medication reconciliation
  • Educate patients on why medications are important
  • Simplify patients’ regimens
  • Discuss patients’ reminder systems
  • Involve family and other caregivers
  • Explain the association of adherence with reduced risk of flares and a better quality of life
  • Facilitate shared decision-making and mutual goals

Resources are available to help implement and optimize electronic health records (EHR) solutions:

Use these instructions for creating Medical Favorites in your EHR
Use these instructions for Population Identification reports in your EHR
View considerations for leveraging EHR for biosimilar adoption