A clozapine treatment program for patients living in the community

Clozapine treatment for schizophrenic patients living in the community requires strategies to ensure safe use of the medication and to foster patients' emerging social and living skills. The authors describe a clozapine treatment program in a community mental health center that includes a weekly clozapine support group meeting followed by drawing of blood for monitoring of side effects. Case managers and other program staff remind patients to take clozapine as prescribed and help them comply with hematological monitoring requirements, manage side effects, deal with the emotional aspects of improvement, and benefit from emerging capabilities. About 75 percent of the center's patients who have been offered clozapine have decided to take the medication, and almost all patients in the clozapine treatment program have experienced significant symptom relief and functional development with manageable side effects.