Why are Inflammatory Bowel Disease Stool Tests So Important?
Close monitoring of inflammatory bowel disease activity promotes early identification of mucosal inflammation, enables rapid intervention, and treatment optimisation, which is associated with better long-term outcomes. Gaining control, reaching deep remission, and preventing flares, are considered priority treatment goals for IBD patients. The gold standard for assessment of mucosal inflammation is endoscopy and therefore not suitable, available or sustainable for routine monitoring of disease and so faecal calprotectin serves as a valuable objective non-invasive biomarker to monitor intestinal inflammation. Testing faecal calprotectin at home delivers immediate, actionable results, and promotes Patient initiated follow up (PIFU) for faster intervention, without the need for utilising hospital or laboratory resources. The SmarTest faecal calprotectin home test is a self-test for calprotectin that can be easily performed by the patient in their home or by healthcare professionals in a primary care setting to monitor ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) activity removing the inconvenience, cost and time associated with preparing and shipping sample collection kits and patient samples, and eliminating turn-around delays. Patients can test their own faecal calprotectin – a useful inflammatory marker in stool, at prescribed intervals for regular monitoring or as needed, for example when experiencing signs of a disease flare such as abdominal pain, abnormal bowel function, change in stool consistency, frequency or urgency, or episodes of fatigue.
Preventis SmarTest is a solution to monitor inflammatory bowel disease remotely by measuring calprotectin in stool samples in combination with the SmarTest Calprotectin Home test app, which together help patients and healthcare professionals stay on top of disease activity, making treatment adjustments and optimisation quicker and simpler.
How To Use the SmarTest® Faecal Calprotectin Test
1. Access The Preventis Portal online and Set Up a Competence Centre
IBD clinical teams can register with the Preventis Web Portal free of charge. Once registered they can create their Competence Centre(s) within the portal. Their Competence Centre is the central hub where clinicians manage users and patients, and view test results. Patients’ faecal calprotectin results and their responses to the IBD disease activity questionnaire are automatically uploaded together to the portal. This enables clinicians to not only monitor inflammatory bowel disease markers, but also to understand the type and severity of symptoms that patient is experiencing. Having the ability to monitor patients, and become alerted to increasing or high calprotectin levels remotely, offers convenience for both the patient and the medical team.
2. Enrol Patients
Patients are enrolled in the Competence Centre where a Patient Information Sheet containing a patient-specific QR code gets automatically generated. Give this to the patient once they have been inducted into the SmarTest Calprotectin test programme, and they can simply connect their SmarTest Calprotectin app to the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) team’s Competence Centre by scanning the QR code using their app. Once connected to the Competence Centre, all faecal calprotectin test results and disease activity questionnaire responses will be synchronised automatically with the Competence Centre, collated, and monitored. The SmarTest bowel inflammation test is simple to use for the patient and the medical monitoring team.
3. Monitor Your Patients
Once a patient has been enrolled into the SmarTest Calprotectin programme, each result generated from the faecal calprotectin test and the disease activity questionnaire automatically gets sent from their smartphone to the Competence Centre. The faecal calprotectin home test results along with the responses to the IBD activity questionnaire are logged in the online web portal where the IBD team can assess and monitor them from anywhere. The Preventis SmarTest system is the perfect tool for detecting active or escalating disease in patients outside of the clinic setting, and is designed to give easily readable and actionable results that help the patient receive fast and effective medical care.
Easy to Use SmarTest® Lateral Flow Calprotectin Home Test Kit
The Preventis SmarTest faecal calprotectin home test is a pocket-sized individual kit that contains everything the patient needs to check faecal calprotectin levels in the comfort of their home. This quick and easy to use bowel inflammation test takes less than twenty minutes to complete and provides fast numerical test results. Patients can store the calprotectin test kit at room temperature, so there is no need for any refrigerated storage and the test can be taken anywhere. This makes work, travel and day to day activities easier. Each test accurately checks for calprotectin in stool – a recognised and routine inflammatory bowel disease marker, with a measuring range of 31-4,000 µg/g.
SmarTest® Calprotectin Home Test App for Patients
SmarTest was developed with convenience in mind so that patients can carry out a calprotectin test in a private setting without the hassles of delivering or mailing a stool sample to their doctor’s surgery, clinic or laboratory. The SmarTest calprotectin home test kit is used in conjunction with a smartphone app which guides the patient through the entire test procedure with clear animations and simple instructions. The app can be downloaded for free via the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and is compatible with a broad range of devices. The SmarTest app allows patients to complete a lateral flow test to check for inflammatory markers in stool with confidence with safeguards included to ensure the test is performed correctly. The SmarTest Calprotectin Home app also analyses the test results. When the timer expires the patient is alerted to scan their lateral flow test using their device, which reads the intensity of the control and test lines on the lateral flow test strip and displays the results in the app in real time. Results are stored within the app and if the app is connected to a healthcare team’s competence centre, the results will also be automatically synced with the patient’s healthcare team.
Preventis® Portal – the Online web Portal for Doctors and Healthcare Professionals
There are considerable benefits to be gained from patients administering their own inflammatory bowel disease stool test, both for patients and providers. The Preventis Portal is a free to use hub that collects all calprotectin home test data and symptom scores from patients using the SmarTest Calprotectin Home test, and stores them to provide a window onto a patient’s disease activity that can be viewed remotely by IBD teams at any time. The SmarTest calprotectin system frees up healthcare resources while still offering each patient personal effective treatment.
Advantages of the SmarTest® Calprotectin Home Stool Test
BIOHIT and Preventis work in partnership to deliver transformational products for use in the virtual care setting. SmarTest Calprotectin Home test is part of the SmarTest family that also includes SmarTest FIT, SmarTest Vitamin D, and SmarTest Ferritin tests. SmarTest Calprotectin solves many issues for patients, Doctors, and medical clinics. The calprotectin home test kit is manufactured to the highest industry standards and delivers robust and accurate faecal calprotectin test results in line with laboratory methods of testing.
Enable Close Monitoring Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Activity
The Preventis SmarTest Calprotectin home test kit was designed to be used by patients in the comfort of their homes. By administering a calprotectin test at home, and collating information about their symptoms, SmarTest enhances the patient experience by enabling direct, real-time monitoring of their inflammatory bowel disease activity by their IBD care team whilst going about their day to day activities. Any symptoms or faecal calprotectin results that suggest a relapse or escalation of disease activity can be identified and treated promptly.
Improves Productivity, Optimises Clinic Capacity and Human Resources
A fantastic advantage of the Preventis SmarTest for checking inflammatory markers in stool samples is that it significantly improves work flows and efficiency for busy clinics and surgeries. SmarTest Calprotectin reduces the need to prepare and send out sample collection kits to patients and reduces the clinical and economic impact associated with the delayed or slow turnaround. Clinics can optimise productivity and maximise the efficiency of the available human resources in the care setting by granting patients the freedom to take greater responsibility and ownership of their care.
Convenient for Patients, Useful for IBD Monitoring
The SmarTest has transformed the traditional inflammatory bowel disease stool test into a powerful solution that focuses on patient and healthcare needs. SmarTest Calprotectin Home is suitable for monitoring patients with established IBD, as well as for ruling out or diagnosing bowel inflammation when patients present with symptoms such as abdominal pain, fatigue, weight loss, and similar symptoms.
Fast Sample Preparation and Faecal Calprotectin Test Time
Another convenience that makes the SmarTest faecal calprotectin test perfect for near-patient testing at home is the quick sample preparation time. It takes only 20 minutes for patients to test their faecal calprotectin levels and complete the app-based disease activity questionnaire, which enables the user to go about their regular daily routine with the absolute minimum disruption. Sample preparation is clean, fast and precise and does not involve cumbersome or complex devices.
Discreet packaging and No Refrigeration Required
Patient privacy and comfort is a high priority. That’s why SmarTest comes in small, pocket-sized individual test packs that can be stored at room temperature so it really can be taken anywhere. Taking a calprotectin test at home enables regular testing in a comfortable and private. And because SmarTest faecal calprotectin test kit requires no special or unique storage and can be performed in just 20 minutes, discretion is preserved.
Faecal Calprotectin Test Results Sync with Doctor’s Online Portal.
IBD teams have free access to the Preventis Online Portal, where patients’ calprotectin stool test results and IBD symptom scores from the validated disease activity questionnaire are collated and stored. The Preventis Portal automatically captures inbound results and notifies users, to prompt remote intervention and further investigation according to the SmarTest Calprotectin results and reported symptoms. Clinical teams can review the faecal calprotectin levels and drill down into the patient’s individual responses to the disease activity questionnaire, enabling the care team to build a full picture of the patient’s status before following up. What’s more, the Preventis Portal is scalable. Clinicians can have multiple Competence Centres within the Portal to group patients by Consultant, service team, disease type, location etc, and also add other SmarTests to the service (such as Vitamin D, or Ferritin) as required. The Preventis Portal also comes with a webkit for IT admin teams to connect their data to other IT systems.
The SmarTest® Calprotectin Stool Test forms a partnership between Patients and IBD Clinics.
Having a simple but effective test for checking a patient’s faecal calprotectin levels at home as well as being able to understand the type and severity of symptoms the patient is experiencing brings considerable convenience to medical professionals and patients. The Preventis SmarTest calprotectin stool test is a peerless stool testing system and symptom reporting tool for checking calprotectin levels and symptoms of disease activity outside the hospital or clinic setting. Patients with IBD can express elevated calprotectin levels before symptoms develop giving an opportunity for the IBD team to intervene with therapeutic adjustments and provide more intensified care.
With more than half a million people living with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in the United Kingdom, gastroenterology teams and IBD clinics can benefit significantly from applying this calprotectin home test kit to their patient homecare packages. SmarTest Calprotectin is suitable to a wide and diverse patient group and because patients’ results are collated through the Doctors Online Portal, monitoring disease activity becomes highly efficient and effective.
Need a Reliable Home Calprotectin Stool Testing Solution to Determine Inflammatory Bowel Disease Activity? Get a SmarTest® Quote Today!
Medical practitioners in the field of IBD demand the best means for optimised patient management and care, whether it is in the hospital or clinic setting, or as part of their home care service. The Preventis SmarTest home calprotectin test kit can help. IBD services can now enhance their care packages by monitoring a patient’s disease activity remotely.
High calprotectin levels or rising calprotectin levels can signal the onset of a flare or loss of therapeutic control in IBD. Testing regularly and answering a disease activity questionnaire may help to avert relapses by enabling intervention sooner. By offering SmarTest Calprotectin Home test to your IBD patients, you can empower them to take greater ownership of the management of their disease and promote Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU).
Checking inflammatory bowel disease activity by permitting patients to perform their calprotectin tests at home is both effective and efficient, and is now possible using the SmarTest faecal calprotectin test. Cost is kept to a minimum as the SmarTest app and Doctors Online Portal are free to use. If you work in a IBD clinic and are looking for ways to improve productivity and reduce clinical burden, request a quote for the Preventis SmarTest calprotectin tests for inflammatory bowel disease, today!
