A specialty spotlight
Yasmine Chauhan is a first-year PharmD candidate at The University of Georgia College of Pharmacy.
Throughout my undergraduate experience, I silently settled with the fact that a career relating to psychology was impractical as I scattered classes for this major into my schedule that was heavily packed with prerequisites. By the sixth and final semester of my undergraduate degree, I looked at my bachelor’s degree as the end to one chapter and the start of another.
In August of 2022, I began as a PharmD candidate at The University of Georgia College of Pharmacy. It took exactly 1 day in the program to discover the intersection of the degree I had just completed with the one I had barely begun: psychiatric pharmacy.
The BPS credential
Psychiatric pharmacy, a specialty that is occupied by more than 1,520 board certified psychiatric pharmacists (BCPP), is the practice of pharmaceutical care relating to psychiatric illnesses and disorders. In order to successfully classify as a BCPP through the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS), a pharmacist must not only become a standard ACPE-certified pharmacist, but also complete a PGY-1 with 2 years of psychiatry-focused practice as well as a PGY-2. This extensive and highly specialized education prepares pharmacists with the knowledge, skill, and resources needed to optimize psychiatric patient outcomes while advocating for treatment plans as an integral member of the treatment team.
While BCPPs have the necessary education and skills to present as a vital part of any health care team, there continues to be limited recognition of the specialty. Even within the pharmacy profession, this fact is undeniable; of the more than 5,000 pharmacy residency positions currently scattered across the country, only 103 are psychiatric pharmacy positions.1,2
An opportunity for pharmacists
One in every 4 Americans is prescribed mental health medications, a number that continues to rise in a nation recovering from the aftermath of a pandemic.3 Acknowledging the versatility of the qualifications of a psychiatric pharmacist allows for members of the health care profession to understand the contribution the specialty could have toward mediating the current projected mental health trends. There is expected to be a psychiatrist shortage within the next 10 years, creating a potential for BCPPs to take this opportunity to step up and draw recognition to the scope of practice that a PharmD provides.4
As mental health continues to progressively become a destigmatized and increasingly researched area of health, the need for professionals in the psychiatric field grows exponentially. As future pharmacists, now is the time to embrace the trends created by the needs of the public and shape the profession to integrate the necessary educational opportunities and resources into the pharmacy curriculum to confidently represent the specialty in a rapidly ever-changing profession.
Moving forward
As I am nearing the end of my first year in pharmacy school, I am cognizant of how I am entering the profession at the start of such a drastic change revolving around society’s perception of mental health. This shift toward accepting a pharmacologic approach in the treatment of psychiatric patients makes way for countless career paths within the specialty that I have yet to explore. Whether it be through organizations like the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists, future professional experiences in the form of APPEs, or pursuing the credential of a BCPP, pharmacy has opened doors that I did not even know existed.
References
1. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. ASHP 2021 pharmacy residency match phase I sees growth in applicants, positions. Bethesda, MD: ASHP. Available at: www.ashp.org/news/2021/03/19/ashp-2021-pharmacy-residency-match-phase-i-sees-growth-in-applicants-positions. Accessed March 14, 2023.
2. American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists. Residency program director survey. Lincoln, NE: American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists. Available at: aapp.org/career/residencies/survey. Accessed March 14, 2023.
3. CDC. Mental health care. Atlanta: CDC. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health-care.htm. Accessed April 6, 2023.
4. Satiani A. Projected workforce of psychiatrists in the United States: A population analysis. Psychiatr Serv. 2018;69(6):710–13.