Improving the care of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients: perspectives and strategies for IBD center management

Abstract

The incidence and prevalence rates of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have been increasing in East Asian countries over the past few decades. Accordingly, the general understanding and awareness of IBD among healthcare professionals has increased considerably in this region. This increase is ultimately associat-ed with the evolving focus of IBD clinicians devoted to comprehensive patient care, especially in establishing IBD clinics/centers capable of providing multi-disciplinary counseling. Comprehensive IBD care at IBD clinics/centers usually includes surgical and medication decision-making, transition from pediatric to adult clinics, care of extraintestinal manifestations, care of infectious diseases in patients undergoing immunomodulatory or biologic therapies, and nutritional, psychosocial, socioeconomic, and pharmacological care. Team members com-prise specialists from various departments related to IBD and can be divided into core and ad hoc members. Usually, the scope of work in IBD clinics/centers involves patient care, patient outreach, and system management. Considering the environmental changes in IBD treatment, it is necessary to perform compre-hensive IBD patient care in the form of a program based on competencies, rather than simply following the organization of previous IBD centers. The present review summarizes recent trends in IBD patient care and offers perspectives re-garding IBD center management.