Assistance with injectable medications: Implementation of a pharmacist-run specialty pharmacy injection clinic

Objective: The goal of this pilot study was to measure patient satisfaction, pain scores associated with injection, and patient perceptions of a pharmacist-led specialty injection clinic. Setting: The Medical University of South Carolina Specialty Pharmacy. Practice description: The specialty pharmacy comprises decentralized clinical pharmacy specialists who provide medication education to patients via phone. Many of the medications dispensed are self-administered injectables, but patients often request in-person assistance to learn the best way to use the drug. The investigators sought to provide an avenue for patients to receive teaching and drug administration from a pharmacist without scheduling a formal nurse visit or enrolling the patients in a manufacturer program. Practice innovation: Clinical pharmacy specialists offered every patient a referral to the Assistance with Injectable Medication clinic for in-person injection teaching during the initial clinical assessment. At the first clinic visit, the patients were provided with printed injection instructions, and a demo injector from the manufacturer was available for practice before the actual drug administration. Evaluation: This was a prospective pilot study conducted from January 2019 to April 2019. Patient identification occurred directly through our clinical pharmacy specialists via referrals and informational flyers. The eligible patients were aged 18 years or older and had received a qualifying subcutaneous injection via the Medical University of South Carolina Specialty Pharmacy. The outcomes included pain score and patient satisfaction. Results: As of April 30, 2019, 17 patients had completed 24 clinic visits. The average reported pain and satisfaction scores (scale 0-10) were 2.5 and 9.6, respectively. The 2 most commonly administered medications in the clinic were alirocumab and adalimumab. Conclusion: A clinic to assist with specialty injectable medications resulted in high patient satisfaction scores and low pain scores associated with injection. (C) 2020 American Pharmacists Association (R). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.