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Satisfaction with a Pen Device for the Self-administration of Follitropin Beta
Table 2: Relative Importance to Healthcare Providers of Various Figure 3: Agreement of Healthcare Providers with Statements
Attributes for Recommending the Pen versus the Syringe Method Regarding the Follistim Pen
Attribute Percentage of Respondents Who Gave a
High (1, 2, or 3) Rating* to Each Attribute Requires less patient
Ease of use 91.1
training time (n=45)
64 18 16 2
Accurate dosing 90.9
Convenience 88.9
Less intimidating
Relief of stress 88.9
(n=45)
76 24
Multidose cartridge 88.6
Patient compliance 86.7
More accurately delivers
Fine-tuning in 25IU increments 82.2 dose (n=44)
70 23 5 2
Excellent tolerability 82.2
Percentage agreement
Storage flexibility 73.3
Discreet use 73.3 Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree/disagree Somewhat or strongly disagree
Less training time 70.5
Percentages may not equal 100 due to rounding
*Healthcare providers were asked to rate each attribute according to an eight-point scale, with
one being the most important and eight being the least important.
“somewhat better” overall than the syringe method. Eighty-two percent
Figure 4: Healthcare Providers’ Anticipated Patient Training
of respondents “agreed strongly” or “somewhat agreed” that it took
Time for the Follistim Pen versus the Conventional Syringe/
less time to train patients to use the Pen versus a syringe. All HCPs Needle Method
responded (strongly agreed or somewhat agreed) that the Pen was less
intimidating for patients, while 93% responded that they felt confident
50
47 47
in the ability of their patients to accurately deliver the correct dose of
Follistim Pen
45
Syringe
follitropin beta with the Pen (see Figure 3). Approximately 98% “agreed
40
strongly” or “somewhat agreed” that they had received all the necessary
35
educational materials to train patients to use the Pen correctly. 31
29
30
The anticipated time required for training patients with the Pen
25
18
compared with the syringe method is shown in Figure 4. The majority of 20
r
c
entage of respondents
HCPs (78%) reported that it took between five and 15 minutes to train
Pe
15
11
patients to use the Pen, whereas most (76%) reported it took between
11
10
10 and 30 minutes to train patients to use the syringe method.
5
When asked about the number of callbacks from patients using the
222
0 0
syringe method, 12 (27%) reported three phone calls per patient and 10
0
<5 5 to <10 10 to <15 15 to <30 30 to <60 60+
(22%) reported one phone call per patient. For the Pen, 21 (54%)
Training time (min)
reported one phone call per patient and seven (16%) reported three
phone calls per patient. insemination (OI/IUI)
10
and the IVF settings.
9
For the treating physician,
knowing that it is easier for the patient to administer the prescribed
When asked to rate attributes that would lead them to recommend the amount each time translates into more confidence that the predicted
Pen over the syringe method, the HCPs provided the responses shown in response will be achieved.
Table 2. The HCPs ranked ease of use as the most important attribute.
On average, 91% of HCPs said they would “definitely” or “probably” In this study, 466 out of 611 patients (76%) who received the surveys
recommend the Pen for all types of infertility patients, while 93% would responded, and 45 out of 74 HCPs (61%) responded. Responses to some
“definitely” or “probably” recommend the Pen to their colleagues. questions on either Survey I or Survey II could not be matched; therefore,
they were not included in the comparison of the two methods. It is also
Discussion important to note that survey takers did not respond to every question
Diabetic patients have benefited from the iterative technical on the surveys; thus, the number of respondents for individual questions
improvements in insulin delivery systems over the past 20 years.
4
While varies. Nonetheless, 82% of patients reported that the use of the Pen
infertility treatment should be made as effective as possible, it should was much (and 13%, somewhat) better than their previous experience
also be as simple and patient-friendly as possible. with the syringe and needle method. The majority of HCPs strongly
agreed that the Pen required less patient training time, was less
Ovarian stimulation protocols can be made more patient-friendly through intimidating, and more accurately delivered the correct dose.
the use of innovative products that do not require reconstitution and that
can be self-administered with ease and confidence. Previous studies have These two findings suggest that both the patients and the assisted
shown that patients understand how to use the Pen to correctly administer reproductive technology (ART) staff understand the benefits of this
the desired dose of follitropin beta in both the OI with intrauterine delivery system for administering gonadotropins.
FERTILITY TREATMENT REVIEW 25
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