Training student pharmacists to administer long-acting injectable medications.

Objective/process: In June of 2022, the State of Maryland Board of Pharmacy issued regulations permitting pharmacist administration of maintenance injectable medications. Subsequently, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy created a laboratory to train student pharmacists based on these regulations on administering long-acting maintenance injections. This training included a review of regulations, reconstitution and administration of medications, and education for patients and caregivers on long-acting injectable medications.

Assessing suboxone access in community pharmacies: Secret shopper model.

Objective: To assess whether Maryland community pharmacies had Suboxone available for dispensing.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used a secret shopper model to contact public-facing community pharmacies in Maryland. The secret shopper, guided by a script, asked whether a prescription for Suboxone was available for the same or next day pick-up.

Research Priorities for Expansion of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in the Community Pharmacy.

In the last decade, the U.S. opioid overdose crisis has magnified, particularly since the introduction of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl.

Anti-aggressive effects of clozapine in involuntarily committed black patients with severe mental illness.

Introduction: Patients with severe mental illness are falsely characterized as aggressive by the media, perpetuating stigma. While exaggerated, some patients with severe mental illness are more aggressive without treatment. Clozapine may have a unique anti-aggressive effect in patients with schizophrenia-related disorders, independent of antipsychotic or sedative effects.

Implementation of academic detailing for pharmacists on opioid use disorder and harm reduction.

Background: The United States is experiencing an opioid crisis, substantially worsened by the pandemic. Pharmacists play a critical role in expanding access to care through harm reduction efforts and medications to treat opioid use disorder (mOUD), yet lack necessary education and resources. Academic detailing is a one-on-one technique, which can effectively address educational gaps.

The Role of Board-Certified Psychiatric Pharmacists in Expanding Access to Care and Improving Patient Outcomes.

Although approximately 20% of adults in the United States experience a mental health condition annually, there continues to be a gap in the provision of care because of a shortage of behavioral health providers. The National Council for Behavioral Health Medical Director Institute has recommended that the number of board-certified psychiatric pharmacists (BCPPs), who are clinical pharmacists with advanced specialized training and experience in the treatment of patients with psychiatric and substance use disorders, be expanded to help meet this need. Although BCPPs currently assist in expanding care access, improving medication-related outcomes, and reducing health care costs by working collaboratively with physicians and other health care providers, BCPPs are often underutilized.

Comparison of Novel Immunoassay With Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Clozapine.

Background: Clozapine is the most effective antipsychotic for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Although serum clozapine levels can help guide treatment, they are underutilized owing to requirements for frequent venous blood draws and lack of immediate results.

Methods: Clozapine levels measured with a novel immunoassay technology (which enables point-of-care development) were compared with those measured by standard liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Effects of Cigarette Smoking and Clozapine Treatment on 20-Year All-Cause & Cardiovascular Mortality in Schizophrenia.

To estimate 20-year mortality risk in people with schizophrenia treated with second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) and examine the effects of cigarette smoking on mortality. Of the 1199 individuals with schizophrenia in the study, estimated 20-year all-cause mortality risk by Kaplan Meier Curve was 30% and leading causes of death included 27% cardiovascular disease, 13% cancer, 12% non-HIV infection, 5% respiratory causes, 20% other causes and 18% had unknown cause of death. For all-cause mortality, we found that white race and male sex were significant risk factors (HR = 1.

Important drug interaction involving phenytoin and quetiapine.

Objective: To describe a patient case in which a drug interaction involving quetiapine and phenytoin resulted in an absence of clinical response and serum quetiapine levels below the point of detection.

Case Summary: This patient was on concurrent phenytoin, valproic acid, and quetiapine therapy for 10 months. Prior to discontinuing phenytoin, a serum quetiapine level was found to be less than 10 ng/mL.

Residents as preceptors and educators: What we can learn from a national survey to improve our residency programs.

Introduction: Developing pharmacy residents into effective preceptors is essential to meet the demands of pharmacy education. A survey was created to assess the availability of resident precepting educational opportunities, identify common barriers associated with developing preceptors' skills, and discover strategies to optimize programming.

Methods: An online survey focused on the development of residents as preceptors was e-mailed to all residency program directors (RPD) for American Society of Health-System Pharmacists accredited residencies in the United States.

Adjunctive Minocycline in Clozapine-Treated Patients with Schizophrenia: Analyzing the Effects of Minocycline on Clozapine Plasma Levels.

Clozapine is the sole antipsychotic agent effective for the treatment of refractory schizophrenia. Sixty percent of clozapine-treated patients, however, fail to adequately respond. Minocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic, possesses antiinflammatory and neuroprotective properties that may play a role in schizophrenia.

Evaluation of the Safety of Clozapine Use in Patients With Benign Neutropenia.

Objective: To determine if clozapine can be safely utilized in psychiatric patients with benign neutropenia.

Methods: A single-center, retrospective chart review study of records from 2001 to 2014 was conducted in an inpatient psychiatric hospital. Patients included had benign neutropenia prior to receiving clozapine and received clozapine using modified monitoring guidelines.

Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Changes During Clozapine Treatment.

People with schizophrenia are 3-4 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than the general population. Clozapine (CLZ) is the gold standard of treatment for refractory schizophrenia. It has been associated with tachycardia and recent evidence shows individuals prescribed CLZ may develop blood pressure (BP) elevation and hypertension.

Managing Opioid Abuse in Older Adults: Clinical Considerations and Challenges.

Opioid use disorder is a public health epidemic. There is increasing attention being given to opioid abuse and overdose in the United States. The overall use of illicit substances by older adults is on the rise and in part can be attributed to the aging of Baby Boomers.

Urine testing for antipsychotics: a pilot trial for a method to determine detection levels.

Objective: The goal of the present study was to demonstrate that the analytical assay of interest can detect antipsychotics in human urine specimens.

Method: Forty inpatients treated with haloperidol, quetiapine, risperidone, or olanzapine were recruited to participate in a one visit study. During the study visit, demographic and clinical information was collected as well as one urine sample that was forwarded to the Ameritox Laboratory and assayed for the presence of antipsychotic medications and/or metabolites.

Physician-pharmacist collaborative care model for buprenorphine-maintained opioid-dependent patients.

Objectives: To develop a physician-pharmacist collaborative practice for opioid-dependent patients designed to increase access to treatment, optimize patient care, reduce cost, minimize physician burden, and prevent diversion.

Setting: Suburban health department.

Practice Description: Physician-pharmacist buprenorphine/naloxone maintenance practice.

An elective psychiatric course to reduce pharmacy students' social distance toward people with severe mental illness.

Objective: To determine whether an elective course on mental health could reduce pharmacy students' social distance toward people with severe mental illness.

Design: Course activities included assigned readings, class discussions, student presentations, review of video and other media for examples of social distance, presentations by patients with mental illness, and visits to hospitalized patients in a variety of psychiatric settings.

Assessment: The Social Distance Scale (SDS) was administered at the beginning and end of the semester to students enrolled in the elective and to a comparator group of students not enrolled in the course.

Failure to fill electronically prescribed antidepressant medications: a retrospective study.

Objective: Nonadherence to antidepressants has been reported to range widely from 10% to 60%. Most adherence studies focus on persistence of use and do not include prescriptions that are not picked up by the patient. The objectives of this study were to determine the rate of unfilled antidepressant prescriptions as well as to identify factors associated with failure to fill these prescriptions.

Psychiatric pharmacy residency training.

The role of the psychiatric pharmacist in the care of the mentally ill has continually evolved since the late 1960s and early 1970s. Pharmacists in the field of psychiatric pharmacy work to improve the health, safety, and welfare of those impacted by one or more psychiatric conditions. Specialty residency training programs are accredited to establish minimum training standards and a board-certification process ensures that individuals provide a high level of quality of care.

Adverse drug reactions in hospitalized psychiatric patients.

Background: Reducing adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is a critical element in providing safe medication use to hospitalized patients. There is an abundance of literature describing ADRs and preventable ADRs (pADRs) in hospitalized patients; however, little has been published specific to psychiatric inpatients. Further knowledge of the most common pADRs in hospitalized psychiatric patients will allow targeted patient safety initiatives to be developed.

Intramuscular haloperidol versus intramuscular olanzapine for treatment of acute agitation: a cost-minimization study.

Study Objectives: To investigate prescribing patterns for antipsychotic regimens based on intramuscular haloperidol or intramuscular olanzapine for treating acute agitation; to compare the costs of each drug regimen, which included adjunctive anxiolytics and/or anticholinergics; and to compare the effectiveness and safety of each drug regimen.

Design: Retrospective medical record review.

Setting: State psychiatric facility.

Heroin detoxification with buprenorphine on an inpatient psychiatric unit.

The purpose of this open-label, uncontrolled study was to evaluate the feasibility of administering off-label buprenorphine in combination with ancillary medications for inpatient short-term detoxification of heroin-dependent patients at a psychiatric facility. A sample of 20 heroin-dependent patients admitted to an urban psychiatric hospital was administered buprenorphine 6, 4, and 2 mg/day during the first, second, and third day of detoxification, respectively, and then observed during the fourth and fifth day. Eighty-five percent of the subjects abused other substances, 75% reported cocaine abuse/dependence, 75% had comorbid mood disorders.