Five Key Treatment Recommendations for IBD Patients

This is a list of DON’TS….. key questions developed by Dr Geoffrey Nguyen, a Gastroenteritis at Mount Sinai in Toronto and Choosing Wisely Canada, a national healthcare campaign. A specialized group of physicians and patients worked on these questions.

Don’t use steroids such as prednisone (whose brand names include Deltasone and other labels) for maintenance therapy in IBD.
Don’t use opioid-based therapies for long term management of IBD abdominal pain.
Don’t continue giving intravenous corticosteroids to patients with severe ulcerative colitis who fail to respond to the treatment.
Don’t start or ramp up longterm medical therapies for IBD on the basis of symptoms only.
Don’t use abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans to evaluate acute IBD unless there is a suspected complication, such as a bowel obstruction, perforation, or abscess.

Remember to prepare for each visit with your Specialist. Write down your questions and concerns so that each appointment is meaningful.

Evelyn Gilkinson is the Nurse Lead for Charlton Health Inc. Before devoting herself solely to Infusing Biologics, Gilkinson worked at Toronto General Hospital, Flinders Medical Centre (Adelaide, Australia), and the London Health Science Centre in Thoracic Step Down, neonate, pediatric and adult Intensive Care, Recovery Room, and Emergency Medicine. Evelyn has done research for The Canadian Cervical Spine Study and with the AIM Health Group. She established the first out-of Hospital Infusion Centres in London and Waterloo. For the last twelve years, Evelyn was the Nurse Supervisor for South Western Ontario for many infusion sites until joining the Charlton team in the summer of 2016.

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