PodcastRx

On this episode, Dr. Deborah Milito, director of skilled and consultant services for Diamond’s skilled division, returns to answer a fresh round of frequently asked COVID-19 vaccine questions. We delve into common queries about boosters, children’s vaccines, natural immunity and more. And we also briefly chat about her recent experiences leading the Diamond Strike Force immunizers, along with her appearance at the ASCP annual meeting.

If your job is to sell pharmacy service to long-term care facilities, how do change your approach when your clients suddenly aren’t accessible to you? And on top of that, how do you adapt your pitch when those same clients are facing one of the biggest crises to ever hit their industry? These are questions that Nick McFerron, regional healthcare sales executive for Diamond, was faced with for the better part of a year. He joins us for a look back at his pandemic experiences in sales and long-term care. We talk the importance of improvisation, customer service, and being a resource instead of a provider. And we also discuss the ways Diamond has stepped up service to long-term care facilities in the wake of the pandemic.

On this episode, we welcome back Judy Tomayko, senior respiratory therapist and infection control coordinator for Diamond Medical Supply. The fall of 2021 has been a trying time for Judy and her respiratory care team, as they’ve taken on an unprecedented surge in respiratory patients and dealt with various respiratory equipment shortages, all thanks to COVID-19. We discuss these and other difficulties, along with her outlook and advice for patients in the coming months. And we also learn about the recent expansion of Judy’s respiratory care department and what she and her fellow therapists hope to achieve moving forward.

On this episode, we welcome back Deborah Milito, Pharm. D., Director of Clinical and Consultant Services for Diamond’s Long-Term Care division, to revisit some frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccine. You might remember our special bonus episode from February featuring a vaccine town hall Q&A she gave for one of our nursing home clients. Dr. Milito goes over many of the questions from this first town hall, along with plenty of new ones.

Why do another Q&A, you might ask? Well, with falling vaccination rates among the population, and with (in Deborah’s world) recent CMS rules requiring COVID vaccine education for long-term care residents and staff, it’s important to reiterate the facts about these vaccines to relieve any concerns, fears or misunderstandings about them. And because vaccination is crucial to lifting us all completely out of pandemic life, we feel this is information well worth repeating.

EDITOR'S NOTE: At 10:49, Deborah incorrectly stated the duration between the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses. Pfizer doses are separated by 21 days while Moderna doses are 28 days.

Frequent contributor Chris Bender from the Diamond Drug Information Center is back - again- this time to talk about treating asthma in the correctional setting.

According to a 2015 report from the US Department of Justice, the prevalence of asthma among correctional patient population was 15-20%, compared to just 10% among the general population. It should be no surprise then that Chris and his Drug Info Center colleagues field many asthma questions from providers.

Because of this, and because major asthma treatment guidelines have been updated in the past few years, Chris felt asthma would be a timely presentation topic for this year’s Spring NCCHC Conference- and ultimately, this podcast.

Chris treats us to a broad overview of asthma symptoms and therapies, before taking us deeper into the treatment issues found in jails and prisons. Along the way, we also talk about the relationship between asthma and COPD and what effect COVID-19 has had on asthma management.

Resources we discuss in the episode:

US Department of Justice Report- "Medical Problems of State and Federal Prisoners and Jail Inmates, 2011–12"

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5219

National Asthma Education and Prevention Program - 2020 Focused Updates to the Asthma Management Guidelines

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/all-publications-and-resources/2020-focused-updates-asthma-management-guidelines

Allergy and Asthma Network - Inhaler Chart

https://members.allergyasthmanetwork.org/store/viewproduct.aspx?id=16386141

Be honest- When you saw the title of this episode, did you let out a sigh, or maybe roll your eyes and think “They’re talking about COVID again?” Well, we understand. No matter what degree the pandemic has affected your life in the past year, it’s more than safe to say that you’re tired of it. You’re sick of it. And you probably felt that way just weeks into the pandemic, let alone months.

Of course, pandemic fatigue is more than just annoyance or inconvenience. It’s a phenomenon that can have serious effects on public health.

Diamond infection control coordinator Debbie Yackuboskey returns to talk about pandemic fatigue, how it makes us feel, the toll it’s taken on healthcare workers, and a few practical tips for living with it. And we also talk about what the future holds and when, perhaps, we can all rest a little easier.

Regular contributor Chris Bender from Diamond’s Drug Information Center gives us a much needed break from all the COVID talk to discuss another serious, if understated, problem in healthcare- polypharmacy. Chris breaks down what exactly polypharmacy is, its negative effects on patients and health care as a whole, and what pharmacists can do to stop it. Along the way we also talk about the prescription cascade, deprescribing, and managing polypharmacy in corrections and long-term care settings.

Clinical resource mentioned in the show:

Epocrates

www.epocrates.com

Hopefully, you remember our last regular episode before we took a little winter break- It was titled “Anticipating the Arrival of the Covid Vaccine” and our guest was Deborah Milito, director of skilled and consultant services for Diamond. We discussed where things stood with Operation Warp Speed, the development of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and how pharmacies were planning for the rollout, and other areas. Now, that was recorded back in late October, well over a month before the first patients in the US received the vaccine in early December. As of February 1, almost 30 million doses of the vaccine have been given in the US, so things have changed considerably since we last spoke with Deborah.

In the meantime, Deborah did record a COVID-vaccine town hall for one of Diamond’s long-term care customers on January 20, Inauguration Day. She answered some frequently posed questions about the vaccine- how we got it so quickly, how MRNA works, what to expect when you get a shot, when you can expect to be vaccinated, and so on. While this was geared to a long-term care facility staff in Pennsylvania, Deb does provide a lot of great vaccine info that a general audience could benefit from. This town hall was a Zoom call that Deborah recorded from her home, so please excuse the occasional chimes in the background.

So while this is not a standard interview episode of the show, consider it a companion piece to our original Covid vaccine episode.

We can’t say enough about the efforts of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic- from the doctors and nurses tending the ICU, to staff in long-term care facilities, and of course to pharmacists now vaccinating patients. But if there’s a group of professionals that might get a little lost in the shuffle, it’s respiratory therapists. While it’s a given that respiratory therapists would play an important role in fighting a respiratory disease, what might not be so apparent is just how deeply the counsel and comfort of a respiratory therapist is woven into patient care.

Senior respiratory therapist Judy Tomayko from Diamond Medical Supply joins us to discuss the effect of the pandemic on her past year in the profession. She shares her experiences with improvising oxygen care for nursing facilities, infection control, workarounds for home visits, and much more. And we also talk about the positives to come out of the pandemic, including for the respiratory care field at large.

Deborah Milito, Pharm. D., BCGP, FASCP, returns to the show to talk with us about the progress of a COVID-19 vaccine. As a member of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists’ Operation Warp Speed committee, Deb has an up-close look at the latest news regarding the development and distribution of the COVID vaccine. We chat about these topics, plus the effects of the pandemic on consulting, the role of pharmacists in vaccinating patients, and what Diamond is doing to prepare for the eventual arrival of the vaccine.