Calprotectin Products for Patient Self-Testing

“I have had the opportunity to use IBDoc® within a community GI practice. It is a promising clinical test to obtain fecal calprotectin results with no delays or turnover. You are notified that the results are posted within the portal, that displays not only the results but a trending graph. Patients have expressed that it is easy to use, convenient and gives them a sense of participation in managing their disease. They are given the kit in the clinic, which eliminates a trip to the lab to pick up sample containers and the trip back to the lab to drop off samples for testing. In the clinic, I explain how to use IBDoc® kit at home and how their results will be interpreted.  I feel that fecal calprotectin results are part of the patients overall clinical assessment to help guide decision making in regards to disease activity and treatment.”

“IBDoc® has quickly become an invaluable tool for close follow-up in my patients with Ulcerative Colitis. My patients have been much happier with the quick results and the convenience of performing these tests at home compared to taking the samples to the lab. I have appreciated the benefit of being able to make changes to their management based on both symptoms and the objective measure of fecal calprotectin without the two-week turnaround I was accustomed to. The process alerts me to new results and the portal stores previous results so I can easily track my patients’ progress.”

“The number one thing for me since beginning the IBDoc trial is that I have found that my anxiety levels have dramatically decreased. It has also reduced the “waiting time” for results down to hours instead of days or weeks. This means I’m not constantly second guessing or monitoring how I feel, which I find mentally exhausting.

I believe what IBDoc has allowed me to do over the course of the last year is fundamentally educate myself in understanding my disease state.

Having Crohn’s disease for twenty-seven years has taught me many things; fundamentally that patients need to self manage and IBDoc is one powerful tool in my self-managing tool kit. I wasn’t expecting IBDoc to provide me with the answers to everything; using IBDoc I haven’t suddenly found a miraculous cure, I’m still searching for the “perfect” diet and optimised plan. However, I believe IBDoc has contributed significantly to both the physical and mental aspects for the management of my disease.”

“We have been introducing the IBDoc system slowly for the last six months and uptake has been really good. Originally we had planned to get patients to bring in a sample and we would do the tests in clinic. However, 95% of patients enrolled so far are doing the test themselves at home. The procedure is quite simplistic – I train the patients using the basic pictorial guide that is in the kit which roughly takes 10 to 15 minutes. It really makes it very simple. If I have any advice for other IBD nurses it is to do this early on in the consultation so that you have time to complete it and you can manage your time more effectively.”

“Patients love the IBDoc and have become reliant on it for self-managing their disease. Once they get started on it they don’t want to stop using it. I have even had patients enquiring about self-funding the tests because the cost isn’t huge for 3 – 4 tests a year. The feedback from the Gastro team and other IBD nurses is also extremely positive: Patients are more confident at self-managing, We aren’t having to chase results, Patients email if they get results they are concerned about, so it is a very safe system.”