Česky
The advisory service is online at www.nemocnice-horovice.cz and can be easily found on the home page by opening the blue "all questions" sign. The first time user has to register and log in each time, this is to preserve the anonymity of this advice centre. The questions are answered by Markéta Křemenová, a long-standing nurse of the anaesthesiology and resuscitation department of the hospital in Horovice, who has been working on this issue for many years and has just completed a certified course in ostomy care.
"I perceive the establishment of the consultation room as very necessary. From my personal experience I know how sensitive this issue is and that patients may feel ashamed to come in person. Some may therefore choose this option for their first contact. It may also happen that they will learn what they need to know from the discussion with other users and thus save themselves a trip to us," says Markéta Křemenová about the essence of the online counselling service. "However, the counselling does not replace health care, it only serves to answer questions or uncertainties, to alleviate patients' fears that an ostomy may await them and to pass on experiences between patients themselves," added the Hořovice health worker.
Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis belong to the group of non-specific intestinal inflammations (known among doctors as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - IBD). It usually affects patients around the age of 20 and requires lifelong treatment.
Crohn's disease is not one of the most well-known diseases in the public eye. Nevertheless, it is a dangerous and, so far, incurable disease that significantly impairs the quality of life of patients. The number of patients suffering from Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis (IBD) has increased tenfold in the last half century. For this reason, a specialised centre for IBD patients has been established in the surgical department of the hospital in Hořovice. As a rule, patients suffering from this disease have to undergo a number of demanding operations during their lifetime.
The symptoms of the disease are very unpleasant. Patients suffer from diarrhoea, crampy abdominal pain, fatigue, and some suffer from malnutrition or severe inflammation around the rectum. Two-thirds of Crohn's patients then have to undergo surgery during their lifetime - whether due to complications, failure of standard treatment or even bowel cancer.
