Educating Patients for Pharmaceutical Companies [NurseZone]
By Debra Wood, RN, contributor

With physicians pressed for time to teach patients, pharmaceutical companies have stepped up to fill the void, sending expertly trained nurses into medical offices and patients’ homes armed with the knowledge to ease patients’ fears and improve their adherence with treatment plans, which should lead to better outcomes.

“Patients benefit tremendously in learning more about their disease process,” said Rosanne Burson, RN, MSN, CDE, field manager in Detroit for HELP (Hands on Education for Lantus/Apidra Patients), a program administered by Innovex Inc. for sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC. “Many times we are picking up issues where they weren’t using something properly, or they were afraid.”.....

The nurses provide no hands-on care. In the MS LifeLines (www.mslifelines.com) program for Serono Inc. and Pfizer Inc, nurses educate patients about multiple sclerosis, teach them how to self-administer Rebif, an interferon beta 1-a for relapsing forms of MS, and coach them through the injection process. Teaching takes place in the patients’ home and begins with a 1.5-hour to 2-hour session.

“I feel like I’m helping them get over this hurdle, especially the newly diagnosed patients,” said Mary Ann Caron, RN, BSN, MSCN, an MS LifeLines nurse educator in Washington, D.C. “Some patients are more emotional about it.”

The nurses visit when the clinician starts the patient on Rebif, again two months later and at 11 months. In between visits, the nurses communicate with patients by telephone. Patients also can access information through the MS LifeLines nurse-staffed call center.

“In addition to developing and maintaining long-term relationships with my patients with phone calls and visits with my patients, another rewarding aspect of my job is being able to help patients give their own injection,” Caron said. “This is a huge step for patients to undertake as this means that they are able to take control of their disease and, hopefully, take control of their future.”

Caron recently taught a gentleman to self-administer Rebif after he had been returning to the doctor’s office for years, frightened to give it himself. With much encouragement, Caron taught him the skill and now he enjoys greater freedom.

Corrie Westwood, RN, BSN, MSCN, another MS LifeLines nurse, was diagnosed with MS five years ago and completed a National Multiple Sclerosis Society nursing fellowship, after learning she had the disease. The former labor and delivery nurse moved to Arizona from Colorado to work for Innovex in this program. She has no regrets.

“There’s no time limit on it,” said Westwood, explaining what she likes about the job. “We can sit and talk. Usually I go over whatever questions they have, and then I go over the disease process, the treatments and what to expect from that, and managing side effects.”

Westwood believes having MS helps her with most patients. She often tells them and serves as an inspiration that they too may be able to live a full, productive life.

“I understand a little bit more what they are going through,” she said. “Sometimes I am the only person they know who has MS.”

However, she usually refrains from sharing the information with patients who have progressed and are suffering from cognitive or mobility problems.MORE