Bridging Community Mental Health and Primary Care to Improve Medication Monitoring and Outcomes for Patients With Mental Illness Taking Second-Generation Antipsychotics-Phase 2: Quality Improvement Initiative Over 15 Months.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a quality improvement (QI) initiative to improve family medicine residents' metabolic monitoring of second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) for patients comanaged across nonintegrated community mental health and family medicine clinics.Methods: Patients were aged ≥ 18 years seen by family medicine residents and prescribed at least 1 SGA (N = 175). Preparative and scheduled QI interventions were nonblinded and included collaboration across organizations, education, and monthly interprofessional care conferences. The QI outcome included evaluation of pre-post metabolic monitoring laboratory data over the 15-month study period. A subset of patients (n = 26) was reviewed at least once at monthly interprofessional care conferences. Patients were stratified by diagnosis of diabetes (n = 45) and no diabetes (n = 130) at baseline. Analyses of the QI intervention outcomes were framed by the time period of monthly care conferences (January 31, 2019-April 30, 2020) and compared to baseline (the historical time period) (October 31, 2017-January 29, 2019).Results: Improved adherence in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (P = .042) and lipid (P < .001) monitoring per guidelines from baseline to follow-up was seen in the total patient population (N = 175). Patients without diabetes (n = 130) had significant improvement (P = .001) in HbA1c monitoring from baseline to follow-up. The subgroup of patient cases that were discussed at a care conference showed no significant improvement in HbA1c or lipid monitoring.Conclusion: Preparative and scheduled QI interventions provided family medicine residents powerful reminders of the SGA monitoring guidelines that improved the metabolic monitoring behaviors for all patients on SGAs.Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 2023;25(3)22m03432. Author affiliations are listed at the end of this article.

Integrating social determinants into pharmacotherapy courses: A case-based learning approach.

BACKGROUND: The recognition of social determinants as major drivers of health outcomes has important implications for health care providers, including pharmacists. It is therefore imperative that providers have the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes to adequately address the contributions of social determinants of health (SDOH) alongside the impact of medical care on health and treatment outcomes. Case-based learning is a common practice in pharmacy education. Patient cases used in pharmacotherapy courses typically highlight clinical parameters and quantitative indices, often to the exclusion of sociocultural contexts. In actual practice, pharmacists (and other health care providers) must consider both clinical information and the context of SDOH in order to deliver responsive and effective patient care. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: The aim of the project was to build patient cases that reflect both aspects. The intent is to use these cases in the core pharmacy curriculum to teach students how to concurrently consider both clinical and social elements in patient care. Eleven pharmacists and educators participated in three work groups to develop 10 cases for pharmacotherapy courses in cardiovascular disease, diabetes management, and mental health. Two of the cases were facilitated with fourth year students on advanced pharmacy practice experiences. SUMMARY: Feedback from case developers and students highlights features of the cases that lend them to utility in the pharmacy curriculum. The integration of SDOH in patient cases provides opportunity for students to build the relevant competencies that will enable them to provide holistic patient care.