Why We Need Better Training for Self-Injection Skin Condition Medications

With self-injection medications for dermatitis and eczema on the rise, the dermatology community has realized that there’s a greater need to educate patients on how to safely administer injections at home.

According to one 2018 study, 43 percent of patients who were prescribed autoinjectors weren’t instructed on how to use them. Mistakes are easy to make, and another study found that around 66 percent of users neglected to hold the device in place for at least 10 seconds after injecting.

More and more medication manufacturers are rolling out self-injection devices for skin conditions, such as Cosentyx (secukinumab, Novartis), Dupixent (dupilumab, Sanofi Regeneron), Enbrel (etanercept, Amgen), and Humira (adalimumab, Abbvie). According to a study from Noble, a training devices and onboarding platforms company, 49 percent of patients who received self-injectors didn’t receive any kind of training from their healthcare practitioners, and 92 percent of patients want a practice device to take home before utilizing the actual self-injector.

In their study with 27 bio-naïve patients, patients were divided into three cohorts: Cohort A was given instructions during a 14-day “decay period” for mimicking using the device after a teaching session. In Cohort B, 100 percent of patients practiced with the training device at least 3 times, 56 practiced 5 to 9 times, and 33 percent practiced 10 or more times. Cohort C watched an interactive video in conjunction with practicing the training device, with 83 percent practicing 5 to 9 times, 33 percent practicing at least 10 times, and 100 percent practicing a minimum of three times.

Overall, 56 percent of Cohort A made mistakes while self-injecting, whereas both Cohort B and C had a 100 percent successful completion rate.