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| Osman Altun, M.D., Ph.D. |
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are inflammatory bowel diseases that cause chronic inflammation and damage in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The GI tract is responsible for digestion of food, absorption of nutrients, and elimination of waste. Inflammation impairs the ability of affected GI organs to function properly, leading to symptoms such as persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, weight loss and fatigue, according to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA).
Collaborative care is critical in the management of patients with IBD, Altun said, and demands the best of multiple specialties including gastroenterology, surgery, radiology, rheumatology, and primary care providers.
In the collaborative care team, the primary care provider is often neglected in the literature. However, in this regional patient population, he noted, the primary care providers have served the population for many years and earned their trust. Often, patients with IBD contact their primary care provider even before they contact a gastroenterologist for IBD-related complications.
“The presentation's focus is to recognize, recruit and support the primary care providers in managing the pediatric IBD population,” said Altun, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Whiddon College of Medicine.
Altun serves as medical director of inflammatory bowel disease at USA Health, and with his partners continues to explore opportunities daily to better serve the pediatric IBD population.
“USA Health has the most critical components of collaborative care to serve the pediatric IBD population,” he noted, “including pediatric radiologists, pediatric surgeons and pediatric gastroenterologists.”