Time-to-therapy discontinuation in patients newly diagnosed with schizophrenia initiated on long-acting injectable versus oral dopamine receptor blocking agents.

AIM: The purpose of this project is to assess the time-to-therapy discontinuation and hospital readmission rate among patients newly diagnosed with schizophrenia who are prescribed long-acting injectable versus oral dopamine receptor blocking agents. METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records was performed for adult patients admitted to an 80-bed inpatient behavioural health facility with a new diagnosis of schizophrenia. The primary outcome studied was time to therapy discontinuation within 1 year of discharge, while secondary outcomes assessed were time-to-therapy discontinuation within 90 days and readmission rate at 30-days, 6 months, and 1 year. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard and linear regression modelling were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A total of 425 patients were included in the analysis, with 66.4% (n = 282) discharged on oral and 33.6% (n = 143) on long-acting injectable dopamine receptor blocking agents. At 1 year post-discharge, the rates of discontinuation were 49.7% for those prescribed long-acting injectable and 55.7% for those prescribed oral formulations (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.54, p = .012). There was no statistically significant difference in readmission rate between the patients prescribed long-acting injectable and oral dopamine receptor blocking agents at any timepoint tested. CONCLUSIONS: The use of long-acting injectable dopamine receptor blocking agents was associated with longer time-to-discontinuation compared to oral agents when prescribed to patients newly diagnosed with schizophrenia in the inpatient setting. However, this was not associated with significant reductions in rehospitalization, calling into question the clinical impact. Future studies will seek to confirm these findings using a prospective study design.

Longitudinal pharmacy student presentations mentored by pharmacy residents: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Alignment of pharmacy student and resident experiences provides a unique opportunity for near-peer mentorship. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess pharmacy resident mentorship and feedback skills through participation in a longitudinal pharmacy student and resident seminar series. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: A longitudinal, near-peer mentorship experience was developed in which first- and second-year pharmacy residents mentored advanced pharmacy practice experience student seminar presentations. Following seminar presentations, residents provided verbal and written feedback to students and faculty pharmacists provided feedback to residents. Student and resident learners were then surveyed to assess resident near-peer mentorship. FINDINGS: Over a single academic year, 26 students delivered 45 seminar presentations that were mentored by 20 residents. Student and resident survey responses were similar and provided favorable feedback on resident mentorship. SUMMARY: The structured near-peer mentorship experience embedded into our longitudinal seminar series provided residents the opportunity to develop and strengthen their mentorship and feedback skills. Resident mentors were found to be effective in near-peer mentorship of a single activity.