Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects many young adults in the prime of their social, occupational, and educational lives. Over one billion dollars is spent annually on IBD. The IBD patient has traditionally been limited to seeing their gastroenterologist in the office or as an inpatient when hospitalized. Now there are more outpatient encounters in infusion rooms than ever before; not just for hydration, but for intravenous medications as well. The infusion room has emerged as a way to reduce emergent visits and admissions to the hospital, thereby reducing the cost of disease as well as the stress hospitalization can cause. A pleasant outpatient setting can impact patient outcomes as well as improve the patient's quality of life. We have set up an infusion room and will share with you our tips for a successful implementation. This talk will discuss both old and new treatments for IBD as well as discuss the challenges of opening and running an infusion room.

Section Description

We are pleased to present the abstracts from SGNA's 34th Annual Course, Charting a Course for Professional Growth. The diversity of these topics certainly reflects the richness and breadth of our specialty. In keeping with the tradition of the Annual Course, we hope the following abstracts will encourage discussions for improving nursing practice and patient care outcomes.