Patterns of Information-Seeking of Patients Newly Diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

What is it about?

This study shows that patients turn to various sources of information and support. Regarding managerial implications, healthcare managers should interact more with their community to be aware of local patient-support organizations to transfer their contact information to their health professional teams. A multidisciplinary team providing education and reassurance to patients is conducive to ensuring a better quality of life and appropriate adaptation strategies for newly diagnosed patients. A combination of information received in face-to-face meetings with the gastroenterologist and other HPs (nurses and dieticians) and from support organizations, print literature and official websites can cover most of the subjects important to a newly diagnosed patient. IBD multidisciplinary teams could develop a framework for patient education that would allow them to identify and consolidate within an information pack: print documents, a short list of credible official websites presenting information in multiple formats, and local resources. Consequently, patient satisfaction and compliance may be increased, reinforcing understanding and recall since it would allow them more time to process different dimensions of the disease and its care. Physicians should also warn patients about the risks linked to visiting unverified websites, which may unnecessarily increase their anxiety instead of reassuring them. A more standardized information approach would increase efficiency within the system by increasing the completeness of available information, reducing redundancy or even incoherence among health professionals, and giving each of them more time to focus on the particularities of their expertise.

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Why is it important?

Previous studies have assessed the information needs and satisfaction of IBD patients, however, to the best of our knowledge, none have specifically described their patterns of information seeking at diagnosis. This could be useful to practitioners and health organizations who want to improve and better target their knowledge transfer and communication strategies with IBD patients.

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