How Specialty Pharmacists Can Best Support Patients Undergoing Treatment for IBD or Crohn Disease

In an interview with Specialty Pharmacy Times, former NFL placekicker, Rolf Benirschke, CEO of Legacy Health Strategies, discusses how specialty pharmacists can best support patients who are undergoing treatment for IBD or Crohn Disease.

Rolf Benirschke: So, I think it’s really critical for pharmacists who engage with patients to understand the disease. To not judge, let’s start with that. And to recognize that each patient deals with it [the disease] differently. Some people want to know everything there is to know about the medicine, everything there is to know about the disease, some aren’t that way. They wanna be told what to do and do it. All of us want people to come along side of us, understand what we’re going through, be an encouragement. Not placate us. Don’t give us words that aren’t authentic. We know we’re hard patients, we’re really hard patients. If you can recognize that and put up with sometimes our frustration, and say “it must be tough. I can’t imagine, but it must be tough. I don’t know what you’re going through, but I deal with other patients and I see how hard it is. You’re doing a great job, keep at it. There’s a reason to fight, there’s hope on the horizon. We’re here, we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to figure this out, together. You’re part of our team.”

That goes a long way for a patient.