Journal of Gastrointestinal & Digestive System
Open Access

Abstract

Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is one of commonest chronic GI conditions, with approximately 1.5 million sufferers in North America;100,000 of them being children. Significant variation exists in care of pediatric IBD as well as other chronic conditions with one study showing that only 45% of Americans receive recommended care. Quality improvement is the science of process management which can be employed to standardize care and minimize variation, thereby improving outcomes. ImprovecareNow (Improvecarenow.org) is a QI collaborative comprising of 37 pediatric centers in USA, Canada and UK which has shown improvement in outcomes of children with IBD as indicated by improved remission rates, prednisone free rates, nutritional status and medication monitoring. Future efforts are focused on self -management strategies, and enhancing patient engagement to improve adherence and outcomes.

Biography

Shehzad Ahmed Saeed is Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Cincinnati Children?s Hospital Medical Center-one of the Honor Roll Hospitals in the US News and World Report Surveys. He is a 1991 graduate of Dow Medical College (now DUHS). He served his pediatric residency at The University of Chicago and Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship at Floating Hospital for Children, New England Medical Center, and Tufts University, Boston. He has served as Director of Pediatric GI Fellowship at University of Alabama at Birmingham from 2005 till 2010, and as division director of Gastroenterology from 2006 till 2010. He has been at Cincinnati Children?s Hospital Medical Center since then, serving as the Clinical Director of Schubert-Martin Pediatric IBD Center, Associate Director of GI Service, Associate Director of GI Fellowship Program, and Affiliate Member of Anderson Center of Health System Excellence. His research interest is focused on pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and quality improvement in pediatric IBD. He has participated in several collaborative research programs assessing gut microbiota?s role in pathogenesis of pediatric IBD, genetics of pediatric IBD, gender differences on bone health in pediatric IBD. He also participates in a number of multicenter consortia of pediatric IBD which are prospectively collecting data on natural history of newly diagnosed IBD patients, and outcomes of children with IBD. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the Medical Affairs of local chapter Crohn?s and Colitis Foundation of America. He has published several papers in pediatric GI journals and is a co- author of 4 book chapters. He also presented his research findings in national meetings and has given lectures in Pakistan, UK, Saudi Arabia and Chile along with USA.