Increasing demand for evidence-based research and practice drives advancements and new outcome measures in medical diagnostic techniques and treatment. Translational research helps turn early-stage innovations into new health products. Pharmaceutical developments lead to increasingly complex and diverse medicines, which are faster acting and have a higher specificity. The concept of ‘an algorithm for everything’ emerges and the workforce increasingly deploys IT-led decision support to ensure the most efficient and safe drug pathway for patients, with fewer side effects.

A similar development was seen when the antipsychotic Chlorpromazine was discovered in 1957, which facilitated the deinstitutionalisation of many patients. More recently, the creation of second-generation atypical antipsychotics, which have lower incidence of side effects, also brought new challenges.

Proposed workforce impact

• Reduced demand for psychiatrists
• Upskilling of the surrounding workforce and greater integration of technological advancements in the mental health curriculum
• Demand for data analysis skills in the psychiatry workforce increases
• Addition of pharmacists to the mental health team

Sources or references

• Leon, (2008), Pharmacogenomics: The Promise of Personalized Medicine for CNS Disorders, Neuropsychopharmacology 34, 159-172.
• Kapur et al., (2012), Why has it taken so long for biological psychiatry to develop clinical tests and what to do about it?, Molecular Psychiatry 17, 1174-1179
• Möller and Rujescu, (2009), Pharmacogenetics-genomics and personalized psychiatry, European Psychiatry, 25, 5, 291-293.
• Wittink et al., (2013), Towards Personalizing Treatment for Depression: Developing Treatment Values Markers. Patient, ahead of print
• Lopez- Munoz et al., (2005), History of the discovery and clinical introduction of chlorpromazine, Ann Clin Psychiatry, 17(3):113-35.

Additional research questions

• What decision support tools currently exist to aid the psychiatry workforce?

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.