What is it about?
Psychiatric pharmacists are a valuable addition to the healthcare team to improve care for people living with psychiatric disorders. However certain policies limit access to their care. This paper explains the education and training of psychiatric pharmacists, the type of work they do, and how they complement the role of other members of the healthcare team. The paper provides recommendations for policy changes that would increase the number of psychiatric pharmacists on healthcare teams.
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Why is it important?
There is a current and increasing shortage of providers to care for people with psychiatric conditions. Changing policies to allow all members of the healthcare team to practice at the top of their education and training to increase access to high quality healthcare.
Perspectives
This article started as a policy paper, assuming others were familiar with psychiatric pharmacists and their training. But reviewer feedback shifted the focus to an explanation about who psychiatric pharmacists are and what they do to educate the audience about their role on the team and about how they can help address the behavioral health provider shortage. The co-authors appreciate reviewer input that resulted in a paper that will increase awareness of psychiatric pharmacists and how they can improve access to quality health care.
Carla Cobb
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Board-Certified Psychiatric Pharmacists and Their Potential Role in Addressing Behavioral Health Workforce Shortages, Psychiatric Services, March 2024, American Psychiatric Association,
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.20230303.
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