Posted by ImproveCareNow™ on October 19, 2023
ImproveCareNow brings together many different people in a diversity of roles across the spectrum of pediatric IBD care. Everyone contributes to our shared mission to transform the health, care and costs for all children and adolescents with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD) by building a sustainable collaborative chronic care network.
Today, we're highlighting the ICN Social Workers & Psychologists (SWAP) group, which brings together psychosocial professionals (including social workers and psychologists) across the network to ask & answer questions, learn from & support each other, share best practices & resources, and work together to continuously improve awareness of & access to psychosocial whole-person care for pediatric IBD patients and families.
The SWAP group has had a lot of momentum this past year, with SWAP members conducting and publishing new research, and taking on new collaborative projects with others in the ImproveCareNow community. In this post, we're highlighting some of the exciting work that ICN Social Workers & Psychologists are doing!
Recent SWAP Publications
- Pediatric GI Health Care Professionals’ Perceptions of and Engagement with Psychosocial Providers in Pediatric IBD Care
- Conceptualizing and redefining successful patient engagement in patient advisory councils in learning health networks
- Practice Survey: Depression Screening in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Variability of Psychosocial Services Within the ImproveCareNow Learning Health System: Opportunities for Optimization
SWAP collaboration with the Patient Advisory Council's imPACt Podcast
- In episode 32 Social Workers, Psychologists and Nurse Practitioners discuss whole person care and their journeys in pediatric IBD
- Episode 27 of imPACt includes patient and provider perspectives on coping, support and mental health during IBD flares
- Episode 26 of imPACt includes patient & provider perspectives on medical trauma in IBD
Current SWAP Projects
The SWAP group is currently collaborating with the Parent/Family Advisory Council (PFAC) and caregivers involved in A-LiNK (The Autoimmune Liver disease Network for Kids) on a Caregiver Coping Resource. More details on this resource to come! If you are a parent or caregiver of a young person with IBD, you can get involved (and connect with other IBD families) by joining the PFAC.
SWAP-portunities to Get Involved in Research!
Participating in research helps to build knowledge and when we learn together, we can change health care for the better. There are active research projects that the SWAP group are involved with and we are still seeking participants. As Jennie David has said, "To change the cultural norm in medicine is a daunting task, but there is a place to begin: publications."
