Monitoring For Clozapine Toxicity With a Focus on COVID-19 Infection

This training is designed to address mental health care professionals who may not realize that COVID-19 inhibits liver enzymes that metabolize clozapine which can increase the clozapine levels to toxicity.

Target Audience

This course is designed for health care professionals including physicians, other prescribers, pharmacists, nurses, patients and caregivers, among others.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

  • Recognize the effectiveness of clozapine in treatment-resistant schizophrenia and the importance of retaining patients who respond well to clozapine by managing expected side effects, drug-drug interactions, etc.
  • Review the impact of infections including COVID-19 on raising clozapine to potentially toxic levels.
  • Review the medical and nursing management of clozapine toxicity using an illustrative case example
  • Review the contraindication of using clozapine with the combination medication – nirmatrelevir and ritonavir (Paxlovid) recently approved for emergency use for mild to moderate COVID-19 by the US FDA.
Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 0.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
    The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
  • 0.50 ANCC
    UPMC Provider Unit is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation
  • 0.50 Attendance
Course opens: 
06/22/2022
Course expires: 
06/22/2025

Planning Committee:

Joan Spinogatti - Administrative Coordinator, CRS, Office of the Service Line Chief - CRS, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital

Course Directors:

  • K.N. Roy Chengappa, MD, MRCPsych - Professor of Psychiatry, Service Line Chief, Comprehensive Recovery Service, UPMC
  • Jane Thomas, BSN, RN-BC, Nurse Manager, Pathways - LTSR, CRS-Service Line

Conflict of Interest Disclosure:
No planners, members of the planning committee, speakers, presenters, authors, content reviewers and/or anyone else in a position to control the content of this education activity have relevant financial relationships to disclose.

In support of improving patient care, the University of Pittsburgh is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physician (CME)
The University of Pittsburgh designates this enduring material activity for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit[s]™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nursing (CNE)
The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 0.5 contact hours.

Other health care professionals will receive a certificate of attendance confirming the number of contact hours commensurate with the extent of participation in this activity.

Available Credit

  • 0.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
    The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
  • 0.50 ANCC
    UPMC Provider Unit is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation
  • 0.50 Attendance
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