Pharmacists provide novel injection services for community.

Abstract

By taking advantage of Kentucky’s definition of the practice of pharmacy, the pharmacist-run clinic at KentuckyOne Health’s Our Lady of Peace administers injections of long-acting medications to a special clientele: patients with opioid addiction or a schizoaffective disorder. The Louisville clinic opened on March 7, with pharmacy manager Steve Cummings administering a gluteal injection of naltrexone to a 30-year-old woman who, he said, did not fit his picture of a heroin addict. She returned 4 weeks later for her second dose, given by clinic pharmacist Robert “Bobby” Conzelman. “It’s exciting because we’re starting to see our repeats,” he said in mid-April. Conzelman said most of the clinic’s patients receive drug products that have an every-4-week dosing schedule. Some patients, however, receive an every-2-week dose of risperidone long-acting injection. “It really varies patient to patient on which long-acting [product] would benefit them,” he said. Cummings said the all-too-familiar situation of patients with an infection stopping treatment when they feel better and then worsening to the point of hospitalization holds true for patients with psychiatric disorders.