Dorothy N. Holzum

Introduction: Pharmacists managing psychotropic medications improve clinical and patient-level outcomes across a variety of healthcare settings and diagnoses. The Systematic Literature Review (SLR) Committee of the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists published the original paper, known as SLR1, in 2024. This paper served as a comprehensive database, cataloguing the impact of psychiatric pharmacists. The purpose of this paper was to expand the database from SLR1. Methods: A second systematic literature review (SLR2) from January 1, 1961, to December 31, 2024, was conducted using PubMed and search terms based on a previous paper (SLR1). The inclusion criteria required pharmacist intervention focused on psychiatric diagnoses and/or psychotropic medications, as well as evaluation of patient-level outcomes. Exclusion criteria were met if there was no pharmacist intervention, no psychiatric disorder treatment, no clinical outcomes, no original research, no access to full text, and/or no English-language version available. Results: A total of 5883 articles were identified for possible inclusion, with only 466 remaining after screening by title and Another 374 were excluded on the first full-text review. The remaining articles underwent a second full-text review, resulting in 52 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. SLR1 and SLR2 combine for 246 included articles. Discussion: Publication of articles displaying the impact of psychiatric pharmacists has slowed over the past two years, but the overall outcomes were positive, as was also seen in SLR1. The cumulative results of SLR1 and SLR2 support the need for standardization of outcomes and stronger study designs to fully demonstrate the benefit of psychiatric pharmacists.

Introduction: Pharmacists focusing on psychotropic medication management and practicing across a wide variety of healthcare settings have significantly improved patient-level outcomes. The Systematic Literature Review Committee of the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists was tasked with compiling a comprehensive database of primary literature highlighting the impact of psychiatric pharmacists on patient-level outcomes. Methods: A systematic search of literature published from January 1, 1961, to December 31, 2022, was conducted using PubMed and search terms based on a prior American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists literature review. Publications describing patient-level outcome results associated with pharmacist provision of care in psychiatric/neurologic settings and/or in relation to psychotropic medications were included. The search excluded articles for which there was no pharmacist intervention, no psychiatric disorder treatment, no clinical outcomes, no original research, no access to full text, and/or no English-language version. Results: A total of 4270 articles were reviewed via PubMed, with 4072 articles excluded based on title, abstract, and/or full text in the initial pass and 208 articles selected for inclusion. A secondary full-text review excluded 11 additional articles, and 5 excluded articles were ultimately included based on a secondary review, for a final total of 202 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. A comprehensive database of these articles was compiled, including details on their study designs and outcomes. Discussion: The articles included in the final database had a wide range of heterogeneity. While the overall impact of psychiatric pharmacists was positive, the study variability highlights the need for future publications to have more consistent, standardized outcomes with stronger study designs.