Video transcript
Mia:
My experience in every encounter that I’ve had with a schizophrenic patient, regardless if it’s in the emergency room, or I'm admitting a patient in the hospital, it's the first time I see a patient in my clinic, or it is a patient I've been seeing it for a long time, I always bring the subject that these medications can be given in the form of an injection. You don't have to take a pill every day, and this is an easy way to have your medication once a month, once every three months, or every six months. So, I bring it up at every encounter because if they're not ready that day, I give enough information for them and the caregiver, so at the next encounter, I say, “Do you have any questions of what we talked about the last time?” and believe it or not, they will bring it up. What I do with my patients that have schizophrenia…and I know having an illness that is a chronic condition that it's going to be for life… having less stress about their treatment is a plus. And, having to think if they took the medication every day, or how they're going to get the medication if they're homeless and they're not able to access a pharmacy for their medication. Knowing that they can go to the clinic and get an injection regardless of what is the living condition of the patient and knowing that it's on board, so it's taking care of their symptoms. So, I think it's less stress for the patient. Our experience when we talk with the patients and they're already on INVEGA SUSTENNA®, that it's once a month, paliperidone palmitate, and we’re already talking about transitioning that patient because they're stable to INVEGA TRINZA®, I'll let them know, it’s still the same medication. The active ingredient is paliperidone palmitate, the difference is going to be in terms of…it’s going to last a little bit longer, the delivery of the medication, and most probably the volume of the injection is going to be a little bit more than the previous one.
Terence:
Well, one of the advantages of working in the inpatient setting, like I do, is that I get to see patients every day, and they have a lot of programs, they have a lot of activities. So, I use those activities as my way of getting to the patient. For example, I can go outside and start playing basketball with them; during that time when we're just shooting some basketballs, I can then start introducing, have you heard about, you know, this and this type of treatment? Have you ever thought about it? And then from there, if the patient shows interest, then we can say, okay, let's…how about after we play, let's go sit down and talk about what it is. Or, sometimes we have like, a ping-pong. We play ping pong with the patients. I can use that too, as a way of connecting with the patients. And then, you know, introducing that to them, and then also tying back to their goal. Say, you, you told me that you want to go back to school, right? This may be a way for you to focus more on school instead of, you know, and also help you maybe, so that you're not constantly struggling with your disease. So, it's always good for the provider to avoid having a pen and a paper, or our computer in front of them, when they're talking to the patient. Close it, turn it away, talk to the patient. And you can always document what you did later. Look at something positive. I notice you took a shower today. Something that powerful for a patient. I’m so proud, you look like you're doing so much better. That gives them some kind of feeling. And then, once you do that, they give you trust. And then, you can use that trust then to start talking to them.
Linda:
So, a newly diagnosed patient, obviously I spent a lot of time with and it's just getting them to understand what's going on, what the disease process is, what to expect, going over all the side effects and things like that. Patients tend to be more receptive when they know the ins and outs, and basically the benefits of everything. Then, from there, I'll lay out a plan for that patient saying, hey, this is what I think is the best way to go about this. I feel that patients will have better outcomes if they start LAIs. And that's the route I would use for newer patients or newly diagnosed patients. In terms of patients that have been with me or been from another provider who are not doing well or are having breakthrough symptoms on oral antipsychotic medications. It's a discussion of hey, you know what? What we're doing right now it's not working. Whether it's, you know, the patient’s not taking the medication daily or they'll forget here, and there so they're not really within their plasma concentration levels that we need, or whether it's because the patient says they're taking it, and who knows if they are, or it's just not effective. So, in those cases that the patient is not doing well, they're having breakthrough symptoms, it’s a conversation of, hey, look, we can give you a long-acting injectable. You don't have to think about it. You don't have to worry about taking a pill every day. You don't remember anything in that sense. And then you just leave it up to us, and we can just give you that injection and have it in the books. And that tends to be a good seller or selling point for a lot of patients. And, you know, I mean, who is not going to like going back every six months versus three months for a shot if they have an option, right? At the end of the day, if they're stable, great. In my opinion, I mean, I like basketball, and I kind of think of the analogy of if I had an open shot at the three-point line, would I go for that shot, or am I going to dribble further up to the free throw line and take a shot? I'm going to go for that three-pointer if I have an open shot. And so, in that sense, if we have the ability to transition a patient from INVEGA SUSTENNA® after four months to INVEGA HAFYERA®, why not go for that shot? So, therefore…literally and figuratively, right? So, therefore, I would go with INVEGA HAFYERA®, and move from there.
LAI=long-acting injectable.