Infusion Therapy Nursing and Pharmacy Staff Provide Complex Patient Care

When chronically ill patients require high-cost specialty medications, they can turn to NKCH for specialized infusion therapy treatment. The clinic provides antibiotic, blood transfusion, chemotherapy, hydration and pain management infusions for treatment of anemia, cancers, Crohn’s disease, immune and infectious diseases, migraine headaches, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, osteoporosis and other diseases.

Specially Trained

Three oncology-certified nurses trained in working with high-risk medications staff eight rooms on weekdays. An NKCH pharmacist provides full-time support with outreach to insurance companies and assistance programs, if necessary, to ensure physician verifications and insurance prior authorizations for needed treatments.

This takes the onus off medical practices. “We rely on the excellent service and care the Infusion Clinic staff provides to our patients, and, if needed, their nurses can access us immediately,” said Sarah J. Hon, DO, FAAN, a neurologist with Meritas Health Neurology. “They do such an outstanding job that my patients tell me they would not go anywhere but NKCH for treatment.”

The NKCH Pharmacy sterile compounding team appropriately mixes and then delivers the medications to the Infusion Center. The sterile compounding area was recently upgraded to meet new regulations to comply with U.S. Pharmacopeia guidelines.

Dr. Hon pointed to the staff’s knowledge of the serious short- and long-term side effects of new immunomodulatory medications for MS.

“I am grateful to know my patients are receiving their infusions from such well-trained, skilled nurses in a large center,” Dr. Hon said. “They can handle an emergency, if a patient experiences an anaphylactic or other significant adverse reaction. Not only is this comforting and reassuring to patients, but it also gives physicians great confidence that those infusions will be handled well.”

When patients with migraines have occasional breakthrough headaches, Dr. Hon can order a one-time infusion or injection to break the migraine, keeping the patient from going to the Emergency Department. “These patients have been thoroughly evaluated and have a legitimate need for an occasional injection,” Dr. Hon said. “We know them, we know what they are dealing with, and the Infusion Center has been outstanding in their flexibility to take them on-demand.”

Pharmacy Tech Assistance

Just as with the Infusion Center, NKCH Pharmacy also has instituted a program where pharmacy techs work full-time in medical practices. Meritas Health Neurology and the NKCH Pain Clinic are early adopters of the program. A pharmacy tech at each location manages physician verifications and insurance prior authorizations, which can be extremely time-consuming for medical practice staff.

“Our pharmacy tech has simplified our workflow by taking the burden of dealing with insurance companies off our shoulders,” Dr. Hon said.

Meritas Health Neurology also relies on its NKCH Pharmacy tech to arrange for the sterile compounding team to properly mix and deliver Botox for migraine treatments.

“For many years, our nurses mixed and drew up the medications into syringes in a sterile fashion. That took a lot of training and time away from patients,” Dr. Hon said. “The Pharmacy now does all of that and delivers the syringes for patient appointments. All we have to do is inject the patients and focus on patient care.”

Sarah J. Hon, DO, FAAN

Dr. Hon earned her medical degree from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. She completed her residency in neurology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City.