Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are complicated. There are choices to make along the treatment journey, which means that patients and their healthcare providers need to work together to find the right path. That’s where shared decision-making comes into play.

Healthcare providers can help patients learn about their options but patients need to speak up and help their doctors understand what they want from their treatment options, because it's not always obvious. To better understand shared decision-making in IBD, I speak to Dr Rajeev Jain, a gastroenterologist in private practice in Dallas, Texas and Caitlyn Smith, ulcerative colitis patient and editor at The Mighty.

Concepts discussed on this episode include:

• IBD Parenthood Project
• Shared Decision-making in IBD
• IBD Surgery Shared Decision-Making Toolkit
• Shared Decision-Making: Benefits to Care
• Shared Decision-Making: Being Prepared
• American Gastroenterological Association GI Patient Center

Find Rajeev Jain, MD on Twitter, Texas Digestive Disease Consultants.

Find Caitlyn Smith at The Mighty, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Find Amber J Tresca at AboutIBD.com, Verywell, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Credits: Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney. Theme music, "IBD Dance Party," is from ©Cooney Studio.

Episode transcript and more information at https:/bit.ly/AIBD111