While the actual surgery is obviously the most critical part of the journey for any transplant patient, the care given directly after surgery is also vital to the patient’s health and well being. It’s a major factor in avoiding organ rejection as well, which is why Total Care RX specializes in transplant patient care, both prior to and directly after transplant surgery. They have made it part of their patient care mission that entails delivering medication orders on time, coordinating and collaborating with the patient’s transplant teams and navigating through what can be daunting insurance issues. All this with the goal of making the patient’s post-transplant life healthier and easier.
Employing a multidisciplinary transplant team, Total Care RX develops close relationships with transplant patients and their healthcare teams. The transplant team monitors medication therapy management to ensure compliance as well as to track potential side effects or interactions with transplant anti-rejection drugs.
The Critical Time After Surgery
The possibility of organ rejection is, unfortunately, a very real part of post-surgery life for transplant patients. Working with each patient to reduce the chances of this happening is paramount and immunosuppressant (anti-rejection) drugs play a major role in this effort. These immunosuppressants help prevent the immune system from attacking the donor organ. It is also typically necessary for transplant patients to take additional medications that compliment the immunosuppressants and control side effects.
However, these immunosuppressants can also compromise a patient’s immune system, exposing them to infections, along with other potentially adverse effects. For many transplant patients this monitoring goes on for their entire lifetime.
There are multiple aspects that are critical in the days and weeks immediately after transplant surgery and Total Care RX spends a great deal of time counseling patients on proper drug dosing, potential side effects, the importance of compliance, as well as any lifestyle changes that may be necessary to help ensure the best possible outcome.
One of those tasks that falls under “lifestyle changes” is patient nutrition and a healthy diet prior to transplant surgery can help with a quicker recovery after surgery. Proper nutrition can also play an important role in helping maintain transplant function and overall health in the weeks immediately after surgery.
Nutritional Care is another Total Care RX specialty and they work with their patients and their transplant teams on a specific plan for each individual patient to maintain the proper eating habits to optimize transplant outcomes.
“Patients need proper nutrition to promote the healing process,” said Carol Georgiadis, RPh, Director of Special Therapy at Total Care RX. “Changes in appetite and even the sense of taste are common due to the medications patients must take, so making sure they are making healthy food choices is a big part of the recovery process.”
Dialysis / Hemodialysis
Total Care RX also serves the dialysis and hemodialysis needs of patients, delivering pre-transplant medications to the patient’s home or directly to the facility where the dialysis is being performed, stocking a complete line of transplant medications. And with a team of pharmacists that specialize in transplant drugs, they monitor and offer expert advice on all post-transplant medications.
“All of this monitoring is done to help prevent organ rejection and to get patients back to their normal lifestyle as quickly as possible,” Georgiadis added. “Our mission is patient care—delivering medication orders on time, coordinating and collaborating with the patient’s transplant team and navigating through insurance issues. Ultimately we want to make their post-transplant life the best it can possibly be.”
This tells only part of the Total Care RX transplant care story as they offer a complete range of services for patients. For a look at the list of the steps they take when it comes to transplant care, click here.
For a complete list of the transplant medications they offer click here (WAITING FOR LINK). For more information on each of the specific medications, click on each one as you view the above list.
