IBD patients may share a similar diagnosis, but they are all different. So how can healthcare professionals continually ensure that each patient’s care reflects their individual needs and goals?
Developed from an initial holistic assessment of the patient’s health and wellbeing needs, a personalised care plan is an important part of the answer.
This plan can help prepare patients for appointments by giving prompts and questions that will help them focus on what matters to them. It also supports clinicians to open up conversations to include aspects of daily living, including mental wellbeing. This way, they can find out how someone’s IBD impacts on their mood, relationships, employment and sexual health.
Following the conversation, the care plan provides a record of what was discussed, shared decisions about treatment and investigations, goal-setting or next steps. It also includes contact details for an IBD Nurse Specialist and telephone/email advice.
An IBD care plan can be either paper-based or electronic and is preferably integrated into a patient portal. It can also be shared with the GP.
A personalised IBD care plan template is being developed in Scotland. This will be rolled out to patients following testing and evaluation.
