Strong Beginnings
What is Strong Beginnings?
Strong Beginnings is a 24-hour a day, seven days a week medication support program for women who have been prescribed 17 hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17-P) by their treating physician. Strong Beginnings provides telephonic nurse support throughout their 17-P therapy. A registered nurse contacts the patient by telephone to do an initial assessment. Weekly follow-up calls are made until all of the prescribed injections have been received or until the patient delivers. Strong Beginnings is a free program for patients. The weekly phone calls give the nurse an opportunity to see how the treatment is going and to answer any questions the patient may have about their treatment. The nurse can also help coordinate any additional services needed through the health plan such as scheduling follow up appointments, transportation to appointments, interpretive services, etc. Strong Beginnings is not meant to take the place of the plan’s case management services. Patients may still receive information and telephone calls from the health plan OB Case Manager, or may be referred to them by the Strong Beginnings nurse. Weekly summaries of the phone calls are sent to the physicians and the plan case managers by the Strong Beginnings nurse.
Why Strong Beginnings?
The administration of 17-P can present several challenges:- Patients need to make weekly visits to the physician’s office for 17-P injections.
- Patients are not familiar with 17-P and how it can help their unborn child.
- Physician offices are very busy and may not have the time to provide support to patients who are not compliant with their treatment or be aware of their patients’ questions or concerns.
Patient
- Educates patient about the importance of their treatment with 17-P.
- Provides continuity with the same Strong Beginnings nurse, allowing patients to be comfortable discussing questions and concerns throughout their treatment.
- Helps patients keep their weekly appointments through supportive counseling during pregnancy.
- Frees up physicians offices by reducing patient phone calls.
- Assures that high-risk patients will be in the office on a routine basis.
- Eases the logistics of ordering and receiving 17-P.
17-Hydroxyprogesterone (17-P)
In a land-mark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 348 No. 24, June 12, 2003, Meis, et. al. reported that weekly injections of 17-P resulted in a substantial reduction in the rate of recurrent preterm delivery among women who were at particularly high risk for preterm delivery and reduced the likelihood of several complications in their infants. Strong Beginnings has arranged to supply 17-P to physicians’ offices from the same compounding pharmacy that supplied the product for the Meis study. In addition, our nurse support program will help patients remain motivated to make their weekly appointment with their physician. Having patients receive 17-P in the office allows physicians the opportunity to discuss other factors that may infl uence the risk of premature delivery, such as smoking cessation, good nutrition and spacing of future pregnancies.
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