My IBD Portal – putting IBD patients in control

What the research is looking at:

There is an urgent need to find new ways of improving the quality of healthcare. E-Health technologies provide an exciting opportunity to support patients managing chronic conditions such as IBD.

The aim of this project was to develop and test a new web based care package for adults with IBD.  Called ‘My IBD Portal’, it consists of a personal IBD record, accessed through the internet by a secure login process.  It provides patients access to clinical letters, blood tests, medications, endoscopy reports, and current management plans.  It also contains self assessment tools, allowing patients to monitor and record their own symptoms – so that if a patient has abnormal scores their IBD nurse could be alerted through a trigger email.  The portal also provides access to more general information about IBD.

In summary, ‘My IBD Portal’ should enable patients to play a greater role in their care, and could greatly improve communication between specialists and hospitals.

The initial funding allowed for the system to be built, and then tested on patients for six months

Conclusions:

The IBD Portal was successful and patients felt that it supported their care and helped them to make decisions.  The most commonly visited section of the portal was the test results section.

What do researchers think this will mean for people with IBD?

The researchers hope that ‘My IBD Portal’ will be able to be used by other hospitals, and be developed in conjunction with the National IBD registry.

Who's leading the research: Dr Christopher Calvert, Salford Royal Hospital Foundation Trust
Our funding: £107,974 over 24 months
Official title of the application: “A pilot randomised control trial to assess the impact of an interactive IBD electronic record 'IBD Patient View'.”
Tags: technology/personalised care