Course Summary

Hyperprolactinemia is a well-known occurrence in patient’s diagnosed with mental disorders, notably schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, who are treated with psychotropic medications. Antipsychotic medications in particular may lead to antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia. When reviewing the clinical effects of hyperprolactinemia with patients, healthcare providers should be discussing common clinical consequences and possible options of therapy. People who are diagnosed with a serious mental illness are at higher risk of developing hyperprolactinemia than healthy people within the general population, and they require routine serum prolactin testing and physical assessment to determine whether complications of treatment have occurred. Hyperprolactinemia may cause clinically significant concerns that require careful consideration, on a case-by-case basis, of the benefits and risks of treating a patient with psychotropic or antipsychotic medications. There are many other causes of hyperprolactinemia that should be considered for differential diagnosis.

Course Format

Homestudy

Course Syllabus

• Introduction
• Prolactin: Secretion and Function
  • Estrogen and Progesterone
  • Other Factors Regulating Prolactin Secretion
  • Function of Prolactin
• Antipsychotic-induced Hyperprolactinemia
• Other Causes of Hyperprolactinemia
• Case Study: Aripiprazole and Levels of Hyperprolactinemia
• Case Study: Hyperprolactinemia and Bromocriptine
• Summary

Authors

Kellie Wilson, PharmD

Kellie Wilson is a Doctor of Pharmacy practicing in Anaconda, Montana, where she lives with her husband and four children. She attended the University of Montana in Missoula where she graduated in 2009 with a doctorate in pharmacy. She later worked in Boise, Idaho for a large, retail pharmacy for 2 years, and then returned home to Montana to oversee an independently owned retail and long-term care pharmacy in Anaconda. As an independent retail pharmacist she has become very involved in psychiatric pharmacy for two major behavioral health organizations that are located around all of Montana. Kellie’s passion is retail pharmacy because she enjoys the interactions with customers as well as the challenges and rewards of staying current with the continuous changes in the pharmacy field.

Susan Depasquale, MA, MSN, PMHNP-BC

Susan DePasquale is a board certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Her current practice is with families, youth and adults who have mental illnesses in both inpatient and outpatient settings, including telepsychiatry for Montana, Washington and Wisconsin communities. She completed her Masters of Art in Political Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Masters of Science in Nursing at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington with a focus in neurogastroenterology and the Post-Masters of Science in Nursing at the Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana with a focus in psychiatry. She has worked with small and rural healthcare teams in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada, and in teaching and research hospitals such as Providence Health and Virginia Mason Medical Center Digestive and Liver Disease Departments in Seattle. Since 2012, she has been actively involved in online continuing education program development for nurses and health teams.