Quality of care in Crohn's disease

Abstract

Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic and progressive inflammatory disease of the intestine. Overall, healthcare delivery for patients with CD is not optimal at the present time and therefore needs improvement. There are evidences which suggest that there is a variation in the care provided to patients with CD by the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) experts and community care providers. The delivery of healthcare for patients with CD is often complex and requires coordination between gastroenterologists/IBD specialist, gastrointestinal surgeon, radiologists and IBD nurses. In order to improve the quality of health care for patients with CD, there is need that we focus on large-scale, system-wide changes including creation of IBD comprehensive care units, provision to provide continuous care, efforts to standardize care, and education of the community practitioners.

Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease, Quality assurance, Quality indicators, Outcome, Comprehensive care units, Quality improvement

Core tip: Crohn’s disease (CD) is a progressive inflammatory disease of the intestine. Overall, healthcare delivery for patients with CD is not optimal at the present time and therefore needs improvement; Despite availability of national and international practice guidelines, there is a variation in the care provided to patients with CD; There is a need to develop well defined quality indicators which assures delivery of adequate care of the disease.