Sarah recently underwent a major surgery for her chronic condition and was nervous about how she would manage her treatment after she was discharged from the hospital. To add on to her increasing stress level, she also spoke little to no English and was worried she would have trouble communicating with her care providers when speaking about her post-op care.

After her surgery, Sarah woke up scared and disoriented. In the midst of the chaos, though, was a warm, friendly face, who greeted Sarah and introduced herself as her Pharmacy Liaison.  The liaison was accompanied by an interpreter, which was very helpful in easing the communication barrier between Sarah and her liaison. Sarah was quickly at ease with her liaison, feeling secure and less anxious about her post-op treatment and next steps. Her liaison spent over an hour listening to her concerns and answering all of her questions. During the discharge appointment, another communication barrier became apparent - Sarah was unable to read English or Spanish. Because of this, her liaison was unable to give her the particular “book” for her chronic condition, which patients usually use to reference their post-op instructions and any pertinent medication information when they need to. Sarah’s liaison wanted to make sure that she was caught up to speed with all information and did not have a single concern lingering about managing her treatment when she went home. Her liaison took the time to ensure that she understood all the information she was told that day and that she understood the services the hospital specialty pharmacy would provide her with going forward.

After the discharge appointment, Sarah was in great spirits and was not only excited to go home, but looking forward to managing her treatment on her own and beginning the recovery process. Her liaison made sure to go over with her, the services that the hospital specialty pharmacy would provide to her, including medication delivery, refill requests, and monthly check-in phone calls to go over her complicated post-surgery regimen. Sarah loved the idea of having one person call her each month and that when she received new medication for her chronic condition, she didn’t need to worry because she knew her Pharmacy Liaison would be there to support her and ensure that her recovery went smoothly.