Searching for Solutions

November President’s Letter: Scaling Hills and Mountains at AAPP

As I prepare the President’s column for this edition of the AAPP Perspective, I am fresh out of a virtual fall retreat with the AAPP Board concentrated on our strategic plan progress. As a reminder, our current strategic plan was approved in late spring of 2021. It is regarded, by far, as the most aggressive strategic plan AAPP has ever adopted and launched us into an entirely new area of profession advocacy. With your help as volunteers and members and your amazing work in your day jobs, AAPP has been scaling these proverbial strategic plan hills and mountains with great passion ever since.

Collegiate Chapters Promote and Grow Psychiatric Pharmacy

What another exceptional year for our AAPP student chapters! Fifty-two collegiate chapters submitted an annual report presenting an overview of their 2022-2023 academic year. The Membership-Marketing Subcommittee of the Student Committee reviewed the reports for highlights of the year, noting significant community service, campus activities, research, and professional growth. Throughout the year, student pharmacists exhibited a great passion for mental health awareness in their selection of community service and chapter activities on campus. The chapters also maintain a commitment to professional development in the field of psychiatric pharmacy.

August Presidents Letter: Adding to the Outcomes Initiative Arsenal of Resources

For the past 4 years, AAPP has dedicated a tremendous amount of volunteer and staff resources to our Outcomes Initiative. The primary goal of the Outcomes Initiative is to increase demand for BCPPs by developing tools and by supporting research that demonstrates the value of BCPPs via evidence. As others begin to see the impact of BCPPs, they raise other complex questions about how they can be integrated and how many are needed.

Figure: Outcomes Initiative 1,000 Foot View

Unmasking the Complexity of Psychiatric Pharmacists Workload: An AAPP Study

Kelly C. Lee, PharmD, MAS, BCPP, FCCP, FASHP

Psychiatric pharmacists are crucial members of mental health care teams who work in a variety of practice settings, from hospitals to outpatient clinics, and perform a variety of tasks depending on their settings and the patients they serve. This diversity in their roles and services benefits patients and health care teams; however, it presents challenges when trying to measure and understand the workload of psychiatric pharmacists. 

AAPP Study Seeks to Understand Burnout Among Psychiatric Pharmacists

Burnout is a well-documented occupational phenomenon that has emerged as a significant concern within the health care field. Characterized by three domains including emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and reduced personal accomplishment (PA), burnout can have serious consequences on professional performance and personal well-being. Previous studies have identified prevalence rates and risk factors for burnout among other clinical pharmacy specialties, however none to date have evaluated burnout among psychiatric pharmacists. This study addresses this gap by evaluating burnout among Board-Certified Psychiatric Pharmacists (BCPPs) in the United States.

Member News: August 2025

Clayton English, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP, BCGP, FAAPP, is part of a team of SoP faculty researchers at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy that has been awarded a $200,000 Tier 3 pilot research grant from the UW Population Health Initiative. The team’s work aims to address the rise in opioid overdose deaths, increasingly driven by fentanyl.

AAPP 2025 Preview: Salt Lake City – The Mountains are Calling!

The mountains are calling and AAPP is answering! For the second time in the 27-year history of AAPP’s Annual Meeting, attendees will head west to Salt Lake City (SLC), Utah. SLC was one of AAPP’s most popular destinations offering beautiful surroundings and numerous attractions. Couple that with a recently renovated international airport and a convenient, affordable light rail for transportation and SLC becomes a must-visit city for AAPP members and Annual Meeting attendees.  

Savvy Psychopharmacology - Valproic acid-induced hyperammonemic encephalopathy

Thanks to our partnership with Current Psychiatry (CP) published through Quadrant Healthcom Inc., another Savvy Psychopharmacology article was featured in the January 2020 edition of Current Psychiatry. The goal of this section is to present an evidence-based discussion to guide safe, effective prescribing of psychotropic medications. Eva Studer, MD, Tawny L. Smith, PharmD, BCPP, and Smitha Murthy, MD, authored this article on Valproic acid-induced hyperammonemic encephalopathy.

The Role and Impact of Indian Health Service Pharmacists in Public Health

The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, provides comprehensive health care to around 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) across 37 states belonging to 574 federally recognized tribes. The federal government established a special relationship with these tribes in 1787 to provide health services and raise their overall health status to the highest level.

A Spotlight on Integrating Contraceptive Care in Psychiatry at AAPP 2024

The AAPP Annual Meeting typically hosts presentations on topics related to psychiatric pharmacotherapy. Expert speakers are often BCPPs, psychiatrists, or advanced psychiatric providers. This year’s session on Contraceptive Care in Psychiatry was unique in that it provided members education on a non-psychiatric topic that is nonetheless frequently encountered in psychiatric practice environments. Given patients with mental illness often face barriers in accessing multiple treatment services, psychiatric pharmacists need to be knowledgeable on how to initiate contraception for patients and/or engage in discussions with patients and prescribers on how to confidently determine the optimal contraceptive option based on an individual’s treatment goals. Familiarity with the advantages and drawbacks of different contraceptive methods enables pharmacists to consider multiple factors when choosing the most suitable options for patients with psychiatric conditions.

Palliative Psychiatry for Severe, Persistent Mental Illness

Outside of conversations around suicide, disease progression, death, and dying are not commonly discussed in psychiatric practice. Palliative care for patients with mental illness is not typically considered beyond the context of terminal medical illness. While patients with SPMI (severe and persistent mental illness) would not routinely be considered terminally ill, many individuals who live with SPMI do not achieve adequate control of their symptoms and live with significant, distressing, and impairing problems.

AAPP Perspective: November 2023

As a growing specialty working in a profession where there are exponentially more and more patient care needs, the importance of attracting and training pharmacy students to the field has never been greater. AAPP members are critical in supporting this growth through precepting and educating students and/or by advising an AAPP Collegiate Chapter. This special edition of the AAPP Perspective demonstrates the impact of Collegiate Chapters and the numerous ways members are incorporating students into their practice, not only by educating them in psychiatric pharmacy but also in enhancing their understanding of those living with mental illness.

Psychiatric pharmacists have enaged in team-based care for 40+ years, and the research is overwhelmingly positive about their contribution to access, outcomes and cost. Given the diverse practice models in use today, you can find results of pharmacist contributions to most types of mental health practice settings.

Thank you for your interest in registering for the Summit, offered by AAPP virtually, October 2-3, 2025. All purchases after the live event provide home study/enduring credit via session recordings.

Dr. Heather Rozea Cooper is an essential member of the FACT/ACT team at The Harris Center for Mental Health & IDD (“The Harris Center”).

VCU Students Educate Patients About Possible Adverse Reactions with Buprenorphine

AAPP Foundation Impact Grant recipients, the VCU Collegiate Chapter, collaborated with dental and nursing students to compile 272 dental hygiene kits. The kits were distributed along with educational handouts to patients at local substance use disorder clinics and a retail pharmacy, and patients reported learning about possible adverse drug reactions with buprenorphine that they did not know much about previously. Great work, VCU Collegiate Chapter! Hear about the project by viewing the recorded presentation.
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Annual Meeting Registration Options Full, In-Person Annual Meeting Registration Includes AAPP and Industry-supported programming and meal functions offered. Live ACPE credit for each session you attend Home study ACPE credit for

The AAPP 2025 Annual Meeting included valuable insights for psychiatric providers. If you were unable to attend live, you still have the ability to purchase on-demand access to all of the recorded sessions! The price is $685 for Nonmembers and $550 for AAPP Members. Register Now for On-Demand Access!

Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) Salt Lake City International Airport hosts more than 330 flights daily to 95 nonstop destinations! The airport recently had major renovations resulting in added flights and is located just 7 miles from the Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City, the host of AAPP 2025.