Needless to say, attending Digestive Disease Week (DDW) was a phenomenal and educational experience. Getting the opportunity to sit in on sessions led by medical professionals was an invaluable experience that will forever frame my way of thinking about IBD. DDW allowed me to expand my knowledge in a safe and inclusive space; some topics can be taboo, which can be a barrier to learning, but DDW truly allowed me to feel comfortable being able to synthesize, understand, and communicate complex medical information. I am forever grateful for this amazing experience! Dr. David Johnson, Dr. Douglas Rex, and Dr. Jack Di Palma were all amazing moderators and they helped expand my understanding of how we can modernize the almost universally hated colonoscopy prep experience. In this session, they discussed important aspects of bowel preparation in colonoscopy, including the efficacy, safety, and patient preferences of different prep options, overcoming barriers to bowel prep, and patient engagement and education.
As people who live with IBD, colonoscopies are routine to us, but as explained in the session, there haven’t been many advances in making the colonoscopy prep process more tolerable. As explained, “bowel preparation is often suboptimal, resulting in poor outcomes.” Speaking from personal experience, I have always felt like I’ve been prescribed too much prep, which has always made the experience even more daunting and unpleasant. Colonoscopy preparation should not be seen as one size fits all. This is where communication with your medical team is extremely important. During the presentation, the doctors gave a number of specific points related to modernizing colonoscopy prep. Some of these points include:
Involve nurses and pharmacists in the process
Having an interdisciplinary team can reinforce prep success. For example, having your pharmacist or nurse review all steps, discuss different prep options, as well as give you tips and tricks can lead to a more successful prep.
Increasing engagement and education
This section was particularly interesting for me as the doctors discussed different methods to increase patient engagement and education. One way was establishing a system where patients can opt in to receive reminder and educational texts during the prep process to ensure a higher prep success, understanding, and quality.
Moving toward a Low-Residue Diet as opposed to a clear liquid diet
The rigidity of the traditionally prescribed clear liquid diet can actually reduce the quality of prep. Having more leeway during colonoscopy prep and switching to a low residue diet can increase success and patient satisfaction. For example, instead of exclusively doing broth, gatorade, and jello we can slowly switch to a more tolerable diet that consists of whole foods like soft scrambled eggs, toast, bananas, and mashed potatoes, etc.
In conclusion, this session highlighted many ways that colonoscopy prep can be modernized and more successfully tolerated. We are all familiar with the prep process, the long nights, extreme hunger, and discomfort are just a few of the many feelings and symptoms we experience. It’s important to note that how well each person tolerates the prep is very individualistic; there is no universal remedy, which is why staying communicative with your medical team is extremely important.
I am especially excited to see further research over this topic so we all can have better colonoscopy prep. One of the overall goals, as stated by the doctors, is reducing the stigma of the terrible prep experience. We all deserve to have as smooth of an experience as possible, and there is so much hope and innovation waiting! Now, let’s hope a flavor-less prep is on the horizon, too.
This article is sponsored by Connecting to Cure.
Connecting to Cure Crohn’s and Colitis is a grassroots, volunteer organization that brings together the IBD community with a focus on caregivers and families. Connecting to Cure Crohn’s & Colitis provides community and support for those coping with these chronic illnesses, while raising awareness and funds for research as well.