Mental Health Clinician Volume 2: Issue 4

Select Issue

Editorial: Patient education by pharmacists

PharmD, BCPP

Patients with mental illness may have inadequate knowledge about their medications or may be dissatisfied with information received about medicines prescribed for their conditions.¹ Patients may not have an understanding of how their medicines work, the time needed to achieve efficacy, recommended duration of therapy, possible side effects and their management, and other factors that may affect medication usage. One study reported that 39% of psychiatric inpatients felt that their treatment had not been clearly explained to them.² In another study of 69 patients with schizophrenia, 46% reported they had not been warned about potential side

Download PDF

Toolbox: A shared decision-making guide for antipsychotic use in dementia

MD, MPH and

PharmD, MS, BCPP

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n117939

Decisions to use antipsychotics for people with dementia are often challenging and complex. These drugs have a black box warning for use in dementia since their use has been associated with increased mortality.¹ They can cause other harmful side effects, and their efficacy is limited.¹ This has led some to believe they should never be used in dementia, but many clinicians still feel antipsychotics can be appropriate treatment for severe symptoms when alternative management strategies have been unsuccessful. Potentially appropriate indications include behaviors that threaten the safety of the patient or others, or troublesome symptoms that

Download PDF

Teaching patients how to effectively solve medication-related problems in an acute inpatient psychiatric setting

MS, PharmD, BCPS,

PharmD Candidate,

PharmD Candidate, and

PhD, RPh.

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n117760

Patients with psychiatric disorders have high rates of medication nonadherence. Though there are many factors that contribute to medication nonadherence, lack of patient understanding about how to manage medication-related problems when they occur is associated with medication discontinuation. This article describes the importance of teaching patients to solve medication-related problems and discusses the scientific evaluation of such a practice.

Download PDF

Adherence through education: A call to clinicians to educate all patients on medication use

Pharm.D., BCPS

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n117761

Medication nonadherence contributes to lack of achievement of desired therapeutic outcomes. This article reviews the evidence supporting patient education as a one of the tools to promote medication adherence. Patient education and provision of tools to help patients overcome adherence barriers are effective ways to improve medication adherence.

Download PDF

Impact of pharmacist-led or co-led medication education groups on patient outcomes: A literature review

PharmD Candidate,

PharmD Candidate, and

MS, PharmD, BCPS

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n117932

Introduction: Psychiatric pharmacists lead groups for patients with mental health disorders in a variety of locations. It is unknown whether these groups are effective in increasing patient knowledge and adherence or reducing negative healthcare outcomes. It is also unclear whether certain modalities of pharmacist-led medication education groups are more effective than others.

Methods: A literature search using MEDLINE and PsycINFO was performed using the search terms “medication,” “patient education,” “pharmacy” or “pharmacist,” and “psychiatric” or “behavioral” or “mental.” Full text articles of randomized controlled trials or those with a pre-post study design that reported outcomes of a pharmacist-led or coled medication group were included.

Results: Six studies were included in the review, many of which were limited by small sample sizes and confounding factors. These studies suggest that pharmacist-led group medication education can improve cardiac risk factors in patients with diabetes, increase inhaler medication compliance in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and improve the ability of pediatric patients and their parents to manage asthma. Elderly patients' ability to manage their medications improved in one study, but was only shown to be significant for patients using four or more medications in another study. Appropriate medication use by psychiatric outpatients was significantly improved with a pharmacist intervention while decreasing total drug and salary costs.

Discussion: Group interventions provided by pharmacists can be successful in improving patient care outcomes for a variety of disease states in diverse patient populations such as pediatrics and geriatrics. Further research is needed to evaluate the full impact of pharmacist-led medication education groups on outcomes such as patient attitudes, knowledge, patient ability to self-manage medications, adherence, and utilization of health care resources.

Download PDF

Applying motivational interviewing strategies and techniques to psychiatric pharmacy practice

PharmD, BCPP

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n117933

Motivational Interviewing was developed to address patient resistance or ambivalence. As a directive, patient-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change through patient exploration of ambivalence, it can be widely applied to the treatment of patients with mental health conditions.

Download PDF

Assessment of a pharmacist-run medication education group for inpatient psychiatric patients

PharmD and

PharmD

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n118039

The goal of this study was to assess the patient knowledge gained from the new pharmacist-run inpatient medication education group that was recently started on the inpatient psychiatry unit at the William S. Middleton VA Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. The primary objective was to compare the scores from the modified Medication Understanding and Use Self-Efficacy Scale (MUSE) medication adherence tool and modified Frequency, Intensity, and Burden of Side Effects Ratings (FIBSER) medication side effects tool between patients who attended the new group versus patients who did not attend the group. The results for the MUSE and FIBSER scores for those who attended the medication education group were slightly lower than those who did not attend the group; however, none of the scores showed any statistical differences. The medication education group on the inpatient psychiatric unit at the William S. Middleton VA was developed to increase patients' knowledge about their medications and to increase patients' access to pharmacists.

Download PDF

Tis the season of endorsements

Pharm.D., BCPP

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n118742

The political season is in full swing. Candidates are endorsing platforms, groups and newspapers are endorsing candidates, and candidates are endorsing each other. Exciting stuff. Again, this all makes me think about what's happening with our organization. Also exciting stuff.

CPNP has made a significant commitment to the Government Affairs front. As you know, CPNP contracted with a Government Affairs Consultant, Carey Potter, earlier this year. The CPNP Board of Directors asked Carey to focus on 3 issues: 1) pharmacists receiving payment for services, 2) including pharmacists as a requirement for Primary Care Medical Homes, and 3) implementing pharmacist-conducted comprehensive

Download PDF

Movie Review: Boy Interrupted

PharmD and

PharmD, BCPP, Mentor

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n117934

Evan Perry was 15 years old when he committed suicide by jumping out the window of a New York City apartment in 2005. The HBO documentary Boy Interrupted tells the story of a young boy who suffered from adolescent bipolar disorder. Filmmakers by trade and affluent by nature, Evan's parents record his childhood through the ups and downs, including several incidences of disturbing behavior. On vacation Evan looks to the cameraman and remarks without emotion “I have a rifle, I'm going to shoot you.” At school he writes a screenplay where attendees at a funeral mourn the loss

Download PDF

Book Review: Motivational interviewing in health care- Helping patients change behavior

MS, PharmD, BCPP

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n117943

CPNP members maintain a suggested reading list to provide information on peer recommended resources and convenient access to the highest quality neuropsychopharmacology publications. A reminder that if you shop with CPNP, by following the links below to Amazon, a small commission will be paid to CPNP which helps to financially support our mission to improve the minds and lives of individuals with psychiatric and/or neurologic disorders.

You can help grow this list of resources by suggesting a book.

Book: Motivational Interviewing in Health Care-Helping Patients Change Behavior

From the Publisher

Much of health care today

Download PDF

CPNP Announcements

DOI: 10.9740/mhc.n118745

MEDICATION ADHERENCE TECHNIQUES KEYNOTE IS FIRST OF THREE KEYNOTE ADDRESSES AT THE 2013 ANNUAL MEETING

The Program Committee is pleased to announce the three keynote sessions to be delivered at the 2013 Annual Meeting, April 21-24 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Shawn Shea, MD, is the lead-off keynote speaker for the 2013 Annual Meeting offering a session entitled The Medication Interest Model (MIM): Innovative Interviewing Techniques for Improving Medication Adherence. Dr. Shea is the Director of the Training Institute for Suicide Assessment and Clinical Interviewing, a training and consultation service providing workshops, consultations, and quality assurance design in mental

Download PDF

Editorial: Patient education by pharmacists

Toolbox: A shared decision-making guide for antipsychotic use in dementia

Teaching patients how to effectively solve medication-related problems in an acute inpatient psychiatric setting

Adherence through education: A call to clinicians to educate all patients on medication use

Impact of pharmacist-led or co-led medication education groups on patient outcomes: A literature review

Applying motivational interviewing strategies and techniques to psychiatric pharmacy practice

Assessment of a pharmacist-run medication education group for inpatient psychiatric patients

Tis the season of endorsements

Movie Review: Boy Interrupted

Book Review: Motivational interviewing in health care- Helping patients change behavior

From the Publisher

CPNP Announcements

MEDICATION ADHERENCE TECHNIQUES KEYNOTE IS FIRST OF THREE KEYNOTE ADDRESSES AT THE 2013 ANNUAL MEETING

Pharmacist administration of long-acting injectable medications for substance use disorders: A scoping review

Transitions of care: Assessment of adherence to long-acting injectable antipsychotic treatment following discharge from inpatient psychiatry

Use of atypical antipsychotics in individuals with anorexia nervosa

Potential changes impacting psychiatric pharmacy by 2030

A model for timely dissemination of critical information: Clozapine toxicity during the COVID pandemic