Congratulations to the five Defining the Future grant recipients who have had abstracts accepted for the CPNP 2021 Annual Meeting! Researchers will present their posters at a scientific poster session on Monday, April 23. The abstracts for these grant-funded projects are below.
Madilyn Eberle, Pharmacy Student, Purdue University College of Pharmacy: "Assessing the Need for Trans-inclusive Education Amongst Practicing Community Pharmacists"
Gender diverse people represent a marginalized population who routinely encounter challenges obtaining adequate healthcare. For the purpose of this study, gender diversity is described as gender identities that demonstrate a diversity of expression beyond the female or male binary framework, including transgender, transexual, and gender nonconforming persons. The profession of pharmacy is uniquely positioned to provide members of the gender diverse community with equitable healthcare experiences. Currently, pharmacists may feel unprepared to provide care to these patients. This state-specific needs assessment explores: 1) the frequency of community pharmacists in Indiana who have received formal training in providing gender diverse care to the transgender, transsexual, and gender nonconforming community, 2) interest in such training programs, 3) and preferred delivery format for such training programs.
Zach Krauss, Pharmacy Student, Cedarville University School of Pharmacy: "Analyzing the Effect Art Therapy Interventions and Wellness Programs Have on Graduate Pharmacy Students’ Mental Health"
Healthcare professionals are burdened with high rates of mental health concerns. Healthcare students, including pharmacy, face mental health challenges and high levels of perceived stress during their training. As a result of COVID-19 and the effect of the global pandemic, there is a critical need to address mental health concerns and increased stress.
Limited research has demonstrated that low-cost interventions such as exercise classes and encouraging emails help enhance a culture of well-being. Furthermore, resilience and wellness efforts have been successfully integrated using hybrid platforms, including in-person and online modalities. Given the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an added challenge of students being unable to participate in in-person activities, which have been the backbone of many resilience and wellness initiatives.
Despite stronger efforts to support student resilience and wellness, there is a paucity of literature regarding the implementation of hybrid resilience and wellness efforts to support students’ mental health and well-being.
Anthony Reeves, PharmD, Pharmacotherapy Fellow, Larkin University, College of Pharmacy: "Psychiatric Drug-nutrient Interactions of Vitamin D: A Retrospective Study"
Vitamin D is an essential micronutrient which undergoes cytochrome P450 (CYP)-mediated metabolism. 1,25(OH)2D3 (calcitriol) is the active form of vitamin D3 which is known to regulate calcium concentrations, the immune system, and parathyroid hormone levels. Calcitriol is hepatically inactivated through hydroxylation reactions which is catalyzed by CYP3A4 enzyme. There are limited data regarding interactions between vitamin D and psychiatric drugs (i.e., antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants). Psychiatric drugs can either induce or inhibit hepatic CYP3A4 functions, leading to possible altered levels of calcitriol. We hypothesize that patients on psychiatric medications will have altered vitamin D levels due to plausible drug-nutrient interactions.
Aaron Salwan, PharmD, MPH, PGY2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Resident, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Monmouth Medical Center: "Perceptions and Efficacy of Brexanolone for the Treatment of Postpartum Depression: A Mixed Methods Analysis"
Brexanolone (BRX) has demonstrated short-term efficacy for the treatment of postpartum depression (PPD). Postpartum depression is linked to infanticide and maternal suicide, and current treatment often fails to adequately control depressive symptoms. Brexanolone is an aqueous form of the steroid allopregnanolone and is thought to improve depressive symptoms after childbirth by modulating neuronal excitability through positive allosteric modulation of the GABA type-A receptor. As 40% of women experience their first episode of depression during the postpartum period, and untreated PPD increases the risk of depression 6-fold later in life, investigating the utilization of BRX is warranted.
Andreea Temelie, PharmD, PGY2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Resident, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital: "Deprescribing in Older Adults during Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitalization: Impact of Pharmacist Intervention and Interprofessional Collaboration"
Polypharmacy has been linked to several poor outcomes in geriatric patients, including increased skilled nursing facility placement, hospitalization, adverse drug events, morbidity, and mortality. While numerous studies have explored medication burden and deprescribing in older adults within the community settings, data in the inpatient psychiatric setting has been limited. Our retrospective review of 151 patients ≥ 65 years old discharged from an inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit from January 2019 to June 2019 discovered consistent increases in medication burden across various diagnoses and age subgroups. This prospective study seeks to assess whether pharmacist intervention and interprofessional collaboration can reduce medication burden in patients 65 years or older admitted to an inpatient psychiatric hospital.