Advancing the Profession through Research

Psychiatric pharmacists are improving access, outcomes and cost. Members understand the value they bring to the mental health team but external stakeholders may not have that same awareness or understanding. Multiple CPNP workgroups are committed to explaining that impact to others. Three such efforts culminated in valuable resources at the end of 2020 that provide important insights and information.

	The Rewards of Becoming a Psychiatric Pharmacist The Resident and New Practitioner Committee conducted the biennial RPD survey and used that data to inform and update the “Rewarding Career Path” infographic for students and residents. This resource explains why people choose psychiatric pharmacy, provides an overview of the PGY2 residency, and illustrates the excellent job prospects for new BCPPs. View the infographic and other career-oriented resources.
	What Psychiatric Pharmacists are Doing In Fall 2019, the Professional Affairs Committee conducted a survey of psychiatric pharmacists to identify trends in practice. The first publication based on this data is the “Assessment of the current practice of psychiatric pharmacists in the United States.” This paper provides one of the first quantitative descriptions of the clinical landscape for psychiatric pharmacy. While many members feel they have a sense of the profession, the study found immense diversity of practice settings and roles on the health care team. Read about the many ways psychiatric pharmacists are improving access, outcomes and cost.
	The Impact of Psychiatric Pharmacists A task force of CPNP members spent significant time in 2019-2020 conducting a thorough literature review to identify robust research projects that demonstrate the impact that psychiatric pharmacists have in their practice settings. This update to the 2015 paper found a number of clinical research studies that illustrate the impact of psychiatric pharmacists in a variety of settings. While the results are encouraging, the paper also emphasizes the need to collect more outcome data related to the impact of psychiatric pharmacists on patient care. Read “Impact of pharmacists on outcomes for patients with psychiatric or neurologic disorders.”

An Exciting Year Ahead!

These useful resources are important steps in our advocacy strategy. They compliment and expand the resources at cpnp.org/psychpharm, and other resources are coming soon. Watch for updates to our legislative issue briefs, a second paper based on the 2019 professional affairs survey, best practice research, and even more as we progress through strategic planning throughout the spring.

You can help with our efforts to advance the profession by:

1. Share cpnp.org/psychpharm and the resources above.
2. Complete the strategic planning survey to help develop goals (watch for invitation emails in January 2021).
3. Register for CPNP 2021 and plan to attend the Forum on Our Future to provide feedback on a draft strategic plan that maps out advocacy for the next few years.

Above all, the most important thing is to keep up the great work. The awareness of psychiatric pharmacists is improving, and it is because you are making an impact!