Perfecting Peds: Comprehensive Medication Management Services

0
This post is sponsored by our friends at Perfecting Peds. All opinions are those of the author.

Once upon a time, there were small, locally owned corner drugstores that existed. They had a whole array of candies you could get for a penny and a soda counter where you and your friends could sit and order a Coke in any flavor you wanted. More importantly, these drugstores had a pharmacist who actually knew your name and who took the time to explain what your prescriptions were for, what side effects to look out for, and kept your health and safety at the forefront of their minds.  

Jena Quinn is a pharmacist just like that. However, she didn’t necessarily set out to be that way, and her “corner drugstore” isn’t a drugstore at all. Instead, it’s her incredible organization, Perfecting Peds, which provides comprehensive medication management services to kids and young adults with complex medical conditions or who regularly take “high-risk” medications. She and her staff go the extra mile to ensure that all patients’ medications are safe, working effectively, and accessible, using innovative strategies proven to reduce medication errors, hospitalizations, and medical costs.

Image: Jena Quinn of Pediatric Peds with her family
Jena Quinn (left) with her three children

Q+A With Jena and Liz

Jena, you and Perfecting Peds are clearly changing lives! What inspired you to start Perfecting Peds? 

Over the years of working with children in the hospital setting, I was constantly identifying a lot of errors in the chronic medications that patients were on. In fact, research shows that one in three children’s prescriptions have an error. I noticed that other physicians were so hyper-focused on the acute problem and not thinking about the big picture for these kids and their families. Providers would quickly check the medications being given for the specific illness being treated in that moment and not even look at what meds the kids are on long-term. There was always this attitude that managing those long-term prescriptions and supplements was “somebody else’s problem.”  

That never really sat well with me, so what ended up happening organically was that I became really close with these families with medically complex kids who were frequently being admitted to our hospital. I would help the caregivers navigate all their medications and look for errors, especially those causing them to keep coming back to us. For example, one of the first kids I identified was on medications that were interacting so badly with each other that he was severely constipated and couldn’t even pee spontaneously.  

Then, as a mom to my three girls, I found myself in charge of reviewing all their medications and answering medication questions for other parents. I was becoming just like that old-school, small-town pharmacist, but I couldn’t refuse to help people. I realized that there needed to be a pediatric pharmacist working outside of the hospital, as an actual part of the care team, just like other specialists do. Someone had to make sure that kids were getting the safest and best care possible, especially where medications were concerned, so now that someone is Perfecting Peds.

And Liz, you started as a patient of Perfecting Peds, and now are part of the team? How did that happen?

Yes, I was approached by Perfecting Peds because they were contracted with my kids’ health insurance company to provide these comprehensive medication management services. I have four kids with a highly complex, rare degenerative disorder called myotonic dystrophy, so we already have a lot of cooks in our kitchen.

Image: Liz Naylor, Patient Ally & Director of Community Engagement of Pediatric Peds, pictured with three of her chiildren
Liz Naylor (second from right) pictured with her children

Truthfully, I was a bit apprehensive, but after about two minutes of talking with a Perfecting Peds clinical pediatric pharmacist, I knew I had to have them on our care team. They found errors in my son’s medications and realized that he was on a medication that was causing him to have digestive issues that we have been trying to resolve since he was discharged from the hospital five years ago. This was especially poignant for me because my oldest daughter, Gianna, sadly passed away because of similar digestive complications related to their disease in March 2023. Jena and her team felt like a life preserver to me, trying to save me from enduring the same tragedy that I had already faced. They also discovered other errors in the way that I was administering critical medications too close to certain supplements, which none of the dozens of providers that my kids see had ever noticed.  

Shortly after we met, the Perfecting Peds team asked if I would share our story in a testimonial video, and throughout that process, I realized how much they had changed our lives. In fact, they made such an impact that I sent Jena my résumé in the hopes that I could make a difference in other families’ lives like they had made in mine. I now have the honor of working as a patient ally and the director of community engagement for Perfecting Peds, and I am beyond grateful to be part of this life-altering work. 

Want to learn more about Perfecting Peds?

Join them for a FREE Virtual Community Jam Session this Thursday, October 10th from 8:00-8:30 PM (EDT), 7:00-7:30 PM (CDT) to learn more about how Perfecting Peds can be an invaluable member of your care team, hear families and providers talk about their shared experiences, and get the opportunity to “ask the expert” with free advice from one of our incredible pharmacists. Click here for the event link.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here