Specialist inflammatory bowel disease nursing in the UK: current situation and future proofing

Improving access to inflammatory bowel disease care in Canada: The patient experience

OBJECTIVES

Canada has one of the highest age-adjusted incidence and prevalence rates of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Large patient volumes and limited resources have created challenges concerning the quality of IBD care, but little is known about patients' experiences. This paper aimed to better understand patient-perceived barriers to IBD care.

METHODS

An exploratory qualitative approach was used for this study. Fourteen focus groups (with 63 total participants) were co-facilitated by a researcher and patient research partner across eight Canadian provinces in 2018. Patients diagnosed with IBD (>18 years of age) and their caregivers were purposefully recruited through Crohn's and Colitis Canada, gastroenterology clinics and communities, and national social media campaigns. Focus group sessions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Most participants self-identified as being white and women. The analysis generated four key themes regarding patient-perceived barriers and gaps in access to IBD care: (1) gatekeepers and their lack of IBD knowledge, (2) expenses and time, (3) lack of holistic care, and (4) care that is not patient-centered. An additional four themes were generated on the topic of patient-perceived areas of health system improvement for IBD care: (1) direct access to care, (2) good care providers, (3) electronic records and passports, and (4) multidisciplinary care or an 'IBD dream team'.

CONCLUSIONS

This research contributes to the limited global knowledge on patients' experiences accessing IBD care. It is valuable for the development of care plans and policies to target gaps in care. Patients have identified system-level barriers and ideas for improvement, which should be taken into consideration when implementing system redesign and policy change.

A quality assessment of inflammatory bowel disease nursing care in Finland: a nationwide cross-sectional descriptive study

OBJECTIVES OF THE ARTICLE

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) nursing has been identified as a crucial component in the IBD service delivery. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of IBD nursing care in Finland, and to identify areas that would benefit from further research.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Tertiary IBD outpatient clinics nationwide were invited to participate in a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted using an electronic survey. The quality of IBD nursing services was assessed using the Nursing Care Quality in IBD (NCQ-IBD) evaluation tool.

RESULTS

Of the 34 identified clinics, 27 participated (79.4%) in the study. The NCQ-IBD tool classifies the clinics in four categories, where A indicates the highest level of quality, and D the lowest. In this study, 26 clinics (96.3%) were classified at level C, and one clinic (3.7%) at level D. Nursing responsibilities in IBD management and informing the patients were at a high level of quality, whereas nursing research in IBD was at a low level. An IBD database (i.e. clinical IBD registry) was in use only in 10 clinics. Although training in the clinical aspects of IBD was readily available, there was a lack of training plans for IBD, and clinics seldom held an annual review of the IBD nursing activities and outcomes. There were very few clinics using structured indices and questionnaires, and only 16 clinics (59.3%) applied a written IBD protocol.

CONCLUSION

In the Finnish IBD nursing service, as measured with the NCQ-IBD tool, several areas for future improvement were identified.

Effects of hospital-family holistic care mode on psychological state and nutritional status of patients with inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to determine the effects of hospital-family holistic care mode on psychological state and nutritional status of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was conducted on the data of 80 patients with IBD treated in The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University from May 2021 to November 2022. Among the patients, 37 patients who received conventional care were assigned to a control group and the remaining 43 patients who received hospital-family holistic care were assigned to an intervention group. The changes of psychological state and nutritional status were compared between the two groups before and after intervention. The two groups were also compared in terms of clinical data, serum preprotein (PA) and albumin (ALB) levels, quality of life (QoL), disease cognition level, self-management of patients, and nursing satisfaction.

RESULTS

After 6 months of intervention, the intervention group exhibited significantly lower anxiety and depression scores (P<0.001), and significantly higher Crohn's and Colitis knowledge scale and McMaster inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire scores than the control group (P<0.001). The scores of IBD-self-efficacy scale, mini nutritional assessment, and subjective global assessment in the intervention group were all significantly higher than those in the control group after intervention (P<0.001). Also, the intervention group showed significantly higher PA and ALB levels, as well as higher nursing satisfaction than the control group (P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

The hospital-family holistic care mode can substantially improve the management and nursing of patients with IBD through improving self-management ability, maintaining nutritional status, alleviating negative emotions, and elevating QoL.

Clair Jones A, Younge L, Lamb CA, Arnott I, Barrett K, Bell G, Bhatnagar G, Blackwell J, Bloom S, Bramwell C, Brookes MJ, Burman A, Cairnes V, Crook KP, Dobson E, Epstein J, Faiz O, Feakins RM, Fletcher M, Garrick V, Keetarut K, Hawthorne AB, Lamb CA, Lee M, Meade U, Muhammed R, Murdock A, Pitney‐Hall N, Rochford A, Rowse G, Sagar P, Segal J, Selinger CP, Sleet S, St. Clair Jones A, Taylor SA, Wakeman R, Weaver S, Younge L. Inflammatory bowel disease patient-reported quality assessment should drive service improvement: a national survey of UK IBD units and patients

BACKGROUND

Healthcare service provision in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is often designed to meet targets set by healthcare providers rather than those of patients. It is unclear whether this meets the needs of patients, as assessed by patients themselves.

AIMS

To assess patients' experience of IBD and the healthcare they received, aiming to identify factors in IBD healthcare provision associated with perceived high-quality care.

METHODS

Using the 2019 IBD standards as a framework, a national benchmarking tool for quality assessment in IBD was developed by IBD UK, comprising a patient survey and service self-assessment.

RESULTS

134 IBD services and 9757 patients responded. Perceived quality of care was lowest in young adults and increased with age, was higher in males and those >2 years since diagnosis. No hospital services met all the national IBD standards for recommended workforce numbers. Key metrics associated with patient-reported high- quality care were: identification as a tertiary centre, patient information availability, shared decision- making, rapid response to contact for advice, access to urgent review, joint medical/surgical clinics, and access to research (all p < 0.001). Higher numbers of IBD nurse specialists in a service was strongly associated with patients receiving regular reviews and having confidence in self-management and reporting high- quality care.

CONCLUSIONS

This extensive patient and healthcare provider survey emphasises the importance of aspects of care less often measured by clinicians, such as communication, shared decision- making and provision of information. It demonstrates that IBD nurse specialists are crucial to meeting the needs of people living with IBD.

Patients' Access to Telephone and E-mail Services Provided by IBD Nurses in Canada

Background

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can impact the quality of life and increase health care resource utilization. Nurses play an integral role in ensuring ease of access to care between scheduled office visits.

Aims

This study aimed to capture the utilization of Canadian IBD nursing telephone and e-mail services.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study with an eight-item online survey was completed by nurses to assess the use of nurse-led telephone and e-mail services for IBD patients.

Results

Twenty-one IBD nurses participated, and 572 patients nurse encounters were reported. Patients with ulcerative (UC) contacted with disease flare when compared to Crohn's disease (CD) (40% versus 24%, P < 0.001). Nursing services were primarily utilized for queries regarding medication (39.3%), disease exacerbations (29.6%), investigations (26%), and scheduling appointments (17.6%). Patients with CD had more telephone conversations (62.7%) and required more follow-up telephone calls (72.2%) compared to patients with UC (33%) and 25%, respectively. Nurse-managed interventions were provided independently for 61.4% of encounters, while 19% required a scheduled appointment in the IBD clinic. In the absence of telephone or e-mail assistance, older patients were more likely to call their family doctor (r = 0.18, P < 0.001), visit the emergency room (r = 0.18, P < 0.001), visit an urgent access clinic (r = 0.22, P < 0.001), or visit a walk-in clinic (r = 0.29, P < 0.001) than younger patients.

Conclusions

Nurse-managed IBD advice lines are proactive services that can address most patient disease-related concerns.

Scoping review with textual narrative synthesis of the literature reporting stress and burn-out in specialist nurses: making the case for inflammatory bowel disease nurse specialists

Objective

Inflammatory bowel disease clinical nurse specialists (IBD-CNSs) face increasing pressures due to rising clinical and patient demands, advanced complexity of work role, and minimal specialist management training and support. Stress and burn-out could undermine the stability of this workforce, disrupting clinical provision. We reviewed the literature on stress and burn-out to demonstrate the lack of evidence pertinent to IBD-CNSs and make the case for further research.

Design

Following Levac et al’s scoping review framework, relevant databases were searched for publications reporting work-related stress and burn-out among specialist nurses. Following screening and consensus on selection of the final articles for review, all authors contributed to data charting. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Scoping Review extension guided reporting of the review.

Results

Of 194 retrieved articles, eight were eligible for review. None focused on IBD-CNSs, were qualitative, or UK-based. Three core themes were identified: Rates of Burn-out, Mitigating and Alleviating Factors, and Preventing and Resolving Burn-out. Risk of burn-out is greatest in novice and mid-career CNSs. Age and duration in role appear protective. Personal achievement is also protective and can mitigate earlier episodes of burn-out; opportunities for career progression are limited. Promoting personal well-being is beneficial. Senior managers have poor understanding of the role and provide inadequate support. Commitment to patients remains high.

Conclusion

Burn-out arises in CNSs across clinical specialisms in the international literature and has a significant negative effect on the workforce. Further research is needed to address the dearth of evidence on burn-out in IBD-CNSs in the UK.

Organisational changes and challenges for inflammatory bowel disease services in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE

To determine the challenges in diagnosis, monitoring, support provision in the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and explore the adaptations of IBD services.

METHODS

Internet-based survey by invitation of IBD services across the UK from 8 to 14 April 2020.

RESULTS

Respondents from 125 IBD services completed the survey. The number of whole-time equivalent gastroenterologists and IBD nurses providing elective outpatient care decreased significantly between baseline (median 4, IQR 4-7.5 and median 3, IQR 2-4) to the point of survey (median 2, IQR 1-4.8 and median 2, IQR 1-3) in the 6-week period following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.001 for both comparisons). Almost all (94%; 112/119) services reported an increase in IBD helpline activity. Face-to-face clinics were substituted for telephone consultation by 86% and video consultation by 11% of services. A variation in the provision of laboratory faecal calprotectin testing was noted with 27% of services reporting no access to faecal calprotectin, and a further 32% reduced access. There was also significant curtailment of IBD-specific endoscopy and elective surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

IBD services in the UK have implemented several adaptive strategies in order to continue to provide safe and high-quality care for patients. National Health Service organisations will need to consider the impact of these changes in current service delivery models and staffing levels when planning exit strategies for post-pandemic IBD care. Careful planning to manage the increased workload and to maintain IBD services is essential to ensure patient safety.