The Professional Affairs Committee has been busy at work creating materials and resources to be used in promoting psychiatric pharmacy. Many of these efforts are discussed in detail in other articles covered in this newsletter so I will just focus on a few efforts that are in progress. Professional affairs related items that are in development include two papers. The first paper is an update to the original value paper published in the Mental Health Clinician in 2015 and centers around a systematic review of all publications related to pharmacy practice in the field of mental health. The second paper targets select issues that affect patients with psychiatric disorders including substance use disorders and identifies how psychiatric pharmacists can be part of the solution. The Professional Affairs Committee also recently launched a survey to assess the current practices of CPNP members. Look for an email with the subject “Help assess the current practice of psychiatric pharmacy in the United States,” and please make sure to take a few minutes to complete this survey as your input is valuable.
We need our members to be active and spread the word about the value psychiatric pharmacists bring to the health care team and to the care of patient with psychiatric disorders including substance use disorders. Please make sure to share cpnp.org/psychpharm and the related campaign when you see the emails or posts on social media and to talk about CPNP’s coalition activity with others. You can also use the provided presentation slides (as discussed in another article) with your students and interdisciplinary groups. One very important area in which we need your help is for you to publish the outcomes of the care you provide. As psychiatric pharmacists are becoming more heavily integrated into the treatment team, we have to be vigilant for opportunities to demonstrate our impact by comparing to teams, time periods, or patient groups that lack access to a psychiatric pharmacist. These studies can be challenging to design, but they are critical for both our government and professional affairs efforts.
Reinforcing CPNP’s professional affairs activities, CPNP members have been representing CPNP at various meetings and events to continue the message that psychiatric pharmacists are an important member of the treatment team and critical in improving access to care, outcomes, and costs. CPNP members have or are scheduled to contribute to the following events:
Additionally, CPNP has joined the Get the Medications Right Institute (GTMRx Institute) as a signing member and the USP Convention as a voting member where CPNP will be represented by Past President Raymond Love, PharmD, BCPP, FAPhA, and Michelle Thomas, PharmD, BCPP as an observer member.
Lastly, we thank you for your feedback and attendance at CPNP’s recent forum on social issues. The forum was facilitated by Glen Stimmel, PharmD, a past president and founding member of CPNP. Seventy-two (72) CPNP members joined the call to provide input through interactive polls and open discussion. You can read a summary of this forum here. These member conversations and those to come through future surveys, focus groups, and other means are especially helpful to the Board as we work on CPNP’s 2020 Health Policy Agenda and enter into strategic planning activities in 2020.