It is important to continue your bleeding disorders treatment plan even while at an inpatient or residential treatment facility. Some treatment facilities may feel uneasy about overseeing someone who gives their own bleeding-disorder medication by IV (infusion) or injection. This is usually because they haven’t seen the process before.

It’s helpful to reassure them that, from a bleeding-disorder perspective, the person is fully trained and competent to self-administer their medication. The purpose of staff oversight is not to perform the infusion or provide medical support—it’s simply to make sure the process fits safely within the person’s recovery plan and that the medication and supplies are used appropriately.

Your bleeding disorder treatment team can provide education, written guidance, or short videos that show what an infusion or injection looks like so the staff know what to expect.

Here are examples of how you can talk with a facility about overseeing infusions:

• “I understand your team may not have seen patients who self-infuse or self-inject before, and that can feel unfamiliar. I want to reassure you that, from a medical perspective, I am fully competent to give my own medication.”

• “Your behavioral-health team still needs to decide whether it’s safe for me to self-administer right now, given my mental-health or substance-use situation. That includes looking at my mental state, behavior, and any safety concerns around sharps.”

• “If you determine that I can safely self-administer, your staff’s role would simply be to observe—to make sure the medication is given exactly as prescribed and that supplies are used only for their intended purpose.”

• “You’re not expected to perform the infusion or know the medical details—just to be present to observe and support safe administration.”

• “My bleeding disorder treatment team can provide written instructions or short videos so your staff can see exactly what the process looks like and feel comfortable overseeing it.”

If the facility decides that you can’t self-infuse right now or that its policy doesn’t allow self-administration, your treatment team can help identify a nurse or trained staff person to give the medication instead.

Send the following to the facility:

• Information for staff overseeing infusions: Personalize this email template to introduce the following resources and help familiarize facility staff with the infusion/injection process.

• Sample self-administration or oversight policy: This resource can help facilities create their own policies regarding self administration or oversight of medication administration.

• Demonstration videos (from Children’s Minnesota):

  • “How to Give Factor by Peripheral Infusion”

  • “How to Give a Subcutaneous Injection”