6-part video series recognized with Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists Leadership Award, sponsored by HealthPRO

For Saskatchewan pharmacists Holly Mansell and Nicola Rosaasen, the idea for a series of videos for kidney transplant patients came from the patients’ questions. “A lot of questions,” says Holly, formerly a member of the Saskatchewan Transplant Program team and now an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan, “and not just around medications as we had thought, but around everything to do with transplant.”

The resulting 6-video series entitled, “Solid Organ Transplantation – a Miniseries for Patients” received the Excellence in Pharmacy Practice – Leadership Award as part of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP) National Awards & Fellows Recognition Ceremony. The award was sponsored by HealthPRO, who is also a program sponsor of the CSHP conference. No one could be more humbled by recognition from their peers than Mansell and Rosaasen, who undertook the project with no prior video production experience but with a sincere desire to help their clients be more informed about a complex and life-altering procedure.

The team took three years to produce a needs assessment involving a transplant patient advisory council at the Saskatchewan Health Region, patients awaiting transplant, those who had received a transplant, and other healthcare providers. “What we heard was that they wanted something they could see and hear that could be repeated and shown to friends and family,” says Nicola who has worked at the Saskatchewan Transplant Program at St. Paul’s Hospital for 17 years.

“Videos aren’t new but that’s what they were asking for,” she says.

The project was mostly a labour of love for Nicola and Holly, who dedicated many volunteer hours to writing scripts, interviewing patients and donor families, and doing the filming. A video editor was hired at the end to pull them to the finish line.

The 6 videos cover the range of issues brought up during the needs assessment – how the kidney works and why you feel sick when you have kidney disease; the work-up process before surgery; the operation and the recovery; the medication; and life after transplant. They even hired an animator to include animated segments around complex issues like the immune system.

Their proudest moment was the deep involvement of patients. “Everyone we asked said yes, there is a need for this, we need to help,” said Holly. “It was amazing.” The patients were part of the research team, they provided testimonials, and are part of two randomized clinical trials to evaluate the transplant team’s intervention. The first trial, with pre-transplant patients, is being funded by the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) and the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research (SCPOR). The second study is with patients after the transplant and is being funded by the American Society of Transplantation (AST) and its professional network, the Transplantation and Immunology Research Network (TIRN).

One of the most moving segments in the videos is an interview with a donor family who experienced the loss of their son. “You’re asking someone to talk about the worst day of their life,” says Nicola, “but the segment is ultimately uplifting because it’s very clear that her hope is that the recipients of her son’s organs will go on to live wonderful lives.”

The videos are not in wide circulation yet, but the initial buzz is positive with observers seeing an improvement in patient satisfaction. Holly and Nicola are getting comfortable in the director’s chair having recently undertaken a second video project – producing similar information videos on lung transplant for the Lung Association of Saskatchewan.

In accepting the award, Nicola thanked CSHP and expressed appreciation to HealthPRO for its commitment to the pharmacy profession. “We’re a small group, especially the pharmacists, but this award proves that small programs can do big things.” Holly gave tribute to the patients who bravely took their stories out of the clinic room and shared them with a large audience. “We are so thankful for being part of a pharmacy community that is small but enthusiastic and cares so much about patients.”