Kerry Lenzi, PharmD, discusses the important role that dedicated multiple sclerosis (MS) pharmacists play in caring for patients at the Penn Multiple Sclerosis & Related Disorders Center.
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Twitter @PennMDForum The Penn Multiple Sclerosis & Related Disorders Center Research in Neuroinflammation & Neurotherapeutics | Penn Multiple Sclerosis & Related Disorders
in general, pharmacist is probably not considered a main member of a patient's care team. But here at our Pen M. S. Center we have a number of pharmacists who are dedicated to the care of patients with M. S. It's also uncommon for specialty pharmacy to have access to every single M. S. Drug like we do and it's all connected care. I'm Carrie Lindsay. I'm a clinical pharmacist at the Pen M. S. Centre. Research over the last decade has significantly changed a lot about what we know about M. S. And how it impacts the immune system. And so this has led to a lot of new drug options, number of the medications that we use for M. S. R. I. V. Medications. And here at Penn, we're very fortunate that we have an infusion suite in the same building as RMS center. When we first meet a patient, we typically explain to expect how they'll get their medicine, how will help them navigate that entire process. And from there we provide our contact information. They keep our number in their phone, they know how to reach us through messaging. M. S. Medications can certainly be expensive in some cases there's several thousands of dollars a month. But we're very fortunate at penn. We have our own specialty pharmacy, it's in the same building as RMS Center and we have a team of pharmacy technicians who do amazing work. They have one of the fastest turnaround times in the country for getting an insurance prior authorization approved. These medications certainly can come with side effects. There are a number of options to manage these side effects to prevent them to treat them. We've been tracking patients in terms of following up to see how they feel after their doses. We're making sure we're doing everything we can to make this as pleasant intolerable of medication for each patient. There are a number of factors that we consider when starting a new medication for a patient, Everything from pregnancy planning to even genetic testing and how that might influence how they break down a medication. It's something that's really unique about pen is that we have a lot of providers who do have a huge footprint in the research and helps us to feel more comfortable. As well as some of those details about medicines that are really important to identify when we're starting them. It's really reassuring to patients to hear that their provider was one of the lead clinical trial coordinators for the medication they're taking and they are the ones who designed the studies and got this approved patients are really fortunate that right here at penn they're able to very easily enroll in studies that can help them to provide that type of benefit back to the M. S. Community. Every single member of the team is very enthusiastic about providing care to patients and we work with the best providers and without a doubt the best part of the M. S. Centre is each of the team members that we have here to help patients.
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