Please tell me your name and your role in psychiatric and neurologic pharmacy?
Stacy Eon, PharmD, BCPS
PGY2 Pharmacy Resident in Psychiatry and University of North Carolina Hospitals
Starting August 2010, Assistant Professor at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Pharmacy Practice Department. Clinical Pharmacist at Mountain Home VA in Johnson City, TN
What type of contact do you have with psychiatric patients and with other types of patients?
Currently, I rotate through various psychiatric units at UNCH and Central Regional Hospital in Butner NC. I have worked on the adult psychotic unit, the crisis unit, geropsychiatry unit, peripartum unit, eating disorders unit, and child/adolescent units. I have also worked with the consult liaison service at UNCH, the neurology unit at Duke University Hospital, and the geropsychiatry unit at Central Regional Hospital. In all of these settings, I function in a clinical capacity, answering pharmacology questions and educating patients, physicians, nurses and social workers about psychiatric medications. Additionally, I volunteer at a mental health clinic at a men’s shelter in Chapel Hill, mostly in a dispensing role.
How have you been involved with CPNP, and how has CPNP benefited you professionally?
I have been a member since my second professional year of pharmacy school and have been attending the annual meetings since 2007. CPNP has helped me meet other pharmacists who share my interests. It has also provided me with excellent continuing education opportunities and the chance to present my residency projects at poster sessions.
What benefits do you think the poster sessions provide to residents?
I appreciate all of the feedback that I have received about my research. People at CPNP always come up with questions or suggestions for improvement that I never considered! I also enjoy seeing all of the other posters. I often see posters that answer questions that I have been wondering about, and it can be a great place to brainstorm about future research questions.
Many of the courses are accredited for BCPP recertification. What do you think of those sessions from a resident’s perspective?
I think they’re great! I often have a difficult time deciding if I want to attend the general programming or the BCPP recertification programming. To me, the recertification programming always seems more practical and covers very specific clinical issues, whereas the general programming is generally a bit more broad. Both are excellent.
What drew you to psychiatric or neurologic pharmacy?
The patients, definitely. I get so much joy from talking with and learning from them. I think they are a population that is often undervalued and disrespected, which is disappointing because they have so much to teach the people around them about overcoming life’s obstacles and working with the limitations that they have. I really enjoy teaching them about their medications because it’s education that they really need, and providers often cannot take the time to give them the details that they may need or want.
Why is an organization dedicated to the psychiatric or neurologic pharmacist important to you?
There is still so much to learn about medications used to treat mental illness, and it’s great to have an organization dedicated to dispersing that information to pharmacists. Because the literature is limited in many ways in our field, it’s great to ask other members about their clinical experiences when a search in the primary literature leaves you empty-handed!
If you could tell the public one thing about your job to help them better understand psychiatric pharmacy, what would it be?
As pharmacists, we are all educators. I help physicians make logical, evidence-based decisions when treating patients. I also work with patients and their families to help them understand their medications
How would you like to be involved in future meetings or in CPNP?
Once I am done with residency, I would like to get more involved in committee work and, eventually, run for an office within the organization.
Have you met anyone that you are excited to be in contact with? If yes, please elaborate
Yes – at every annual meeting! I enjoy not only the social interactions, but also talking with other pharmacists who are interested in collaborating on research together in the future.
