Clinical pearls for the monitoring and treatment of antipsychotic induced metabolic syndrome.

Antipsychotic medications increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, which then increases the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and premature death. Routinely monitoring for signs of metabolic syndrome in patients taking antipsychotics allows for early detection and intervention. Psychiatric pharmacists can improve patient care through metabolic syndrome monitoring and recommendation of appropriate interventions.

Comparison of clozapine monitoring and adverse event management in a psychiatrist-only and a clinical pharmacist-psychiatrist collaborative clinic.

Introduction: In an effort to establish clinical support for providers prescribing clozapine and to help reverse the national decline in clozapine utilization, a clinical pharmacist began seeing half the clozapine clinic patients, preceding the psychiatrist, at this facility in July 2017. The other half of the clozapine clinic patients continued being seen by the psychiatrist only. The purpose was to determine the impact of the pharmacist on clozapine management and identify barriers to clozapine use to potentially increase its utilization.

Case reports of interprofessional care for clients enrolled in a mental health court.

Background: An interprofessional mental health court (MHC) team was created in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2014 to help keep low-level offenders with mental health (MH) disorders out of the correctional system. The focus of MHC is on stabilization of MH disorders and rehabilitation rather than incarceration. A clinical MH pharmacist was added to the team in 2015 to provide expertise on psychotropic medication regimens and to meet with clients for medication education.

Impact of a mental health clinical pharmacist on a primary care mental health integration team.

Introduction: Primary care mental health integration (PCMHI) teams function to improve access and quality of integrative physical and mental health (MH) care through a stepped care treatment approach. The project's primary objective was to evaluate the impact a PCMHI clinical pharmacist made on treatment outcomes and interventions. The secondary objective was to assess medication adherence rates.

Student preparation time for traditional lecture versus team-based learning in a pharmacotherapy course.

Background And Purpose: Determine how much time students spent preparing for traditional lecture versus team-based learning (TBL) for a pharmacotherapy course and determine if time spent in each pedagogy was within stated expectations for the course.

Educational Activity And Setting: Instructors used a combination of traditional lecture and TBL to deliver material. Before each lecture, instructors recorded the amount of time students spent preparing for each method using a one-question clicker-response survey.

Managing comorbidities in patients with chronic heart failure: first, do no harm.

Heart failure (HF) affects approximately 5.1 million adults in the USA, with expectations of a rise to nearly 8 million adults by 2030. Patients with HF are at increased risk for morbidity/mortality, and comorbidities can further complicate care for these patients.

Plasma renin activity-guided strategy for the management of hypertension.

Despite the wide array of antihypertensive agents and the availability of national guidelines regarding treatment for hypertension, the disease remains uncontrolled in nearly 50% of affected patients. Furthermore, the number of patients with resistant hypertension continues to increase. For patients with resistant hypertension, the American Heart Association has advocated for clinical studies to determine appropriate pharmacologic treatment strategies.