Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics Essay

Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics Essay

Inflammatory bowel disease comprises of Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease and are basically chronic inflammatory disorders of the intestines. Apart from having a highly unpredictable clinical course, IBD has a negative impact on a patient’s quality of life and psychological health. Its clinical symptoms include: fatigue, diarrhoea, abdominal pain among others. IBD also increases patients’ risk of colorectal cancer a potential complication of IBD in the advanced form. Its incidence in developed and developing nations is gradually increasing with an estimated 1:400 adults who are affected. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics Essay

            According to Danesh et al., (2015), IBD has a huge impact on the quality of life and mental health of patients suffering from it.  Depression, stress and anxiety are common in patients suffering from IBD and notably affect the clinical course of the disease as well as impair the quality of life. Anxiety, depression and stress can potentially aggravate the severity of symptoms besides increasing the risk of relapse. Patients react differently to stress, how they deal and perceive it and this determines the clinical course of IBD. The burden of hospital readmissions among children, adolescent and adult patients with IBD has increased in the recent decades and this has been attributed to increased stress, anxiety and depression (Danesh et al., (2015). The incidence and prevalence of admissions is expected to increase further by the year 2030. However, evidence based research reveals that the quality of life of patients with IBD can be improved when they are educated on the need to avoid stress, depression and anxiety.

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    Significance of Clinical Issue

IBD imposes a significant psychosocial burden to patients and even families and friends. More specifically, patients experience a lot of stress and anxiety which have been evidenced to result to complications that increase the risk of surgery, increase disease severity and even lead to an unpredictable course. Stress and anxiety may result from vulnerability when unable to access urgent care, a strong feeling that IBD controls a patient’s life, non-adherence to treatment and being overwhelmed by the illness itself (Woodward et al., 2016).  In such scenarios, friends and families even experience a lot of psychological, financial and emotional distress and generally, this negatively impacts health outcomes and the quality of life of those suffering from IBD. Although adults are at high risk of suffering from stress and anxiety due to additional responsibilities related to work, parenting and financial obligations, children and adolescents are equally at risk.

The education of patients with IBD has been evidenced as an effective foundation in the management of IBD. Patients should be informed through face-to-face interactions and provided with written materials regarding the need to reduce stress/anxiety (Selinger et al., 2017).  Patient education should also include providing sources of information from support organizations, healthcare institutions, healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical companies.

PICOT Statement

Since patient education on how stress/anxiety reduces the quality of life improves patient knowledge in relation to IBD, in clinical settings, it is highly recommended that the clinical management of IBD should include patient education as this will help to prevent complications, hospital readmissions, reduce extra medical costs and related emotional, social and financial distress that comes with it (Selinger et al., 2017). Therefore, for highly effective and efficient treatment outcomes, educating patients about IBD and the significance of reducing stress is of paramount importance.  This therefore leads to the following PICOT question: Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics Essay

PICOT Question

In children, adolescents and adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease, will educating patients on decreasing anxiety/stress compared to no education, lead to a reduction with IBD symptoms?

References

Danesh, M., Gholamrezaei, A., Torkzadeh, F., Mirbagher, L., Soluki, R., & Emami, M. H. (2015). Coping with stress in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and its relationship with disease activity, psychological disorders, and quality of life. International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture, 2(2), 95-104.

Selinger, C. P., Carbery, I., Warren, V., Rehman, A. F., Williams, C. J., Mumtaz, S., & Ford, A. C. (2017). The relationship between different information sources and disease‐related patient knowledge and anxiety in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics, 45(1), 63-74.

Woodward, S., Dibley, L., Combes, S., Bellamy, A., Clark, C., Czuber-Dochan, W., & Norton, C. (2016). Identifying disease-specific distress in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. British Journal of Nursing, 25(12), 649-660.

Rubric_for_PICOT_paper (2)

The_relationship_between_different_information_sources_and_disease-related_patient_knowledge_and_anxiety_in_patients_with_in___ammatory_bowel_disease-

Identifying_disease-specific_in_patients_with_inflammatory_bowel- (1)

Coping_with_Stress_in_Patients_with_Inflammatory_Bowel_Disease_and_Its_Relationship_with_Disease_Activity__Psychological_Disorders__and_Quality_of_Life-

Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics Essay