“The majority of the transplant patients find the MedActionPlan schedule very useful when they have questions about medications. Post-op transplant patient’s medication dosages may change twice weekly, and sometimes this becomes overwhelming for them to keep up with. We teach the patients how to use MedActionPlan and MyMedSchedule.com effectively. If the patient does not have computer access, they may grant family members permission to log on to their medication lists to view and print changes. Patients are also provided a hard print copy in their education binders.”

How we continue to help and teach our patients:

“We are encouraged to provide our patients with teaching and disease information within our specialty of heart failure and lung disease. Using approved medical websites, like MedActionPlan, we recommend that our patients come in for follow-up counseling and educational courses. MedActionPlan is used for this medication teaching and has shown to result in improved medication compliance.”

—Carolyn Q Alexander RN BSN
Cardiothoracic Transplant Coordinator
Baylor University Medical Center 

“Our pre- and post- lung transplant patients with Cystic Fibrosis have found MedActionPlan and MyMedSchedule very beneficial in staying on top of their medication & inhalation regimens. MyMedSchedule provides a great way for tech-savvy young patients to take ownership of their medication regimens by keeping the medication list up-to-date, having it text their cell phones to remind them to take medications and to print wallet-sized lists to keep with them at all times.”

Lisa Fuller, PharmD, BCPS
Cardiothoracic/Transplant Clinical Pharmacist
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
Phoenix, AZ

”MedActionPlan and MyMedSchedule have been a great fit for our families. Cystic Fibrosis is a complicated disease with even more complicated medications and therapies. Having a Med Schedule allows for our families and patients to incorporate scheduling of their medications with phone reminders, and helps them to learn about dosages and contraindications to their therapies. The MedActionPlan Schedule provides great graphics of the medication, which is important for families and young patients who have difficulty with reading. MedActionPlan and MyMedSchedule can empower both the patient and family to take responsibility and be invested in their healthcare.”

—Stasia, RN, BSN
Cystic Fibrosis Coordinator 

MedActionPlan users who print the Weekly Checklist or Health Record for their patients will find a useful new feature available: you can now select which day the week starts with. Why would you want to do that? It could make it easier for the patient to use the tool, and save you a sheet of paper in the process.

For example, perhaps you have a patient being discharged on a Wednesday, with a follow-up appointment in one week. With the old version of the Checklist and Health Record, you would need to print two sheets for each: one for the remaining days in the first week, and another for the first few days of the next week. And each page would have several columns left unused, which could be confusing for some patients. With the new feature, you can print a single page beginning on the day of discharge. 

Selecting the first day of the week is a simple one-step process: simply click on the day along the top of the Checklist or Health Record. Your selection on one page will be applied to all the pages. Just click on SUN (Sunday) to go back to the default.

Patients’ adherence to therapy and understanding of medication improve significantly when they use the MedActionPlan for Organ Transplant (MAP-OT) patient education tool, according to two recent studies conducted at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).

The studies are summarized in the Spring 2010 newsletter of the International Transplant Nurses Society (ITNS).

Read more here. 

Medication errors are a significant problem facing healthcare organizations, particularly in areas like transplantation which require complex regimens. With that in mind, transplant pharmacists at the University of California San Diego Medical Center have undertaken several initiatives to help improve compliance and reduce errors. 

View the following excerpts from the Winter issue of the UCSD Journal of Nursing to see how the UCSD team integrates MedActionPlan to help educate patients about their medication regimens.

UCSD_Nursing_Winter09.pdf (552.60 kb)

Donna Brooten of MedActionPlan.com and MyMedSchedule.com joined the Donate Life groups from around the country for the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on New Year's Day. The float, New Life Rises, honors the new life that emerges when donors make the gift of life possible through organ, eye and tissue donations. Twenty-four riders are on the float representing transplant recipients and deceased donor families. Floragraphs, made of herbs, spices, and floral materials illustrate the loved ones who gave life to those in need. Donna says, "It was an inspiring event, very humbling and hopefully this float, seen on the parade route and on national television, made more people aware of how critical the need is for organ, tissue and eye donations."

To see KTLA’s Rose Parade broadcast featuring the Donate Life float, go to this page and click on Part 1, where Donate Life appears at the 13:15 mark. 

View photos of the float and parade on MyMedSchedule's Facebook page.

“Our patients’ survival rate is 15 percent higher than the national average for patients three years post transplant, at an exceptional 96.8 percent. Our outcomes reflect care, planning and attention to detail along with a step-by step analysis of all of our processes, including education tools. MedActionPlan is part of our ‘continuum of care.’”

“We use MedActionPlan for every patient discharge, and we appreciate the program upgrades and the rapid response of your IT department.”

Pam Hester, RN
Manager, Heart Transplant
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center
Spokane, WA

MedActionPlan is pleased to announce that Drew Silverman, Pharm D, is the newest member of the MedActionPlan for Organ Transplant Advisory Board. Drew is a Pharmacotherapy Specialist in Abdominal Transplantation at Tampa General Hospital, where he serves as Director of Transplant Pharmacy Specialty Residency in the Department of Pharmacy. We look forward to working with Drew on enhancing MedActionPlan tools and services.