Summer 2001

xxAACP Newsletter, Volume 15, Number 3, Summer 2001

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Board of Directors’ Report

The Board met May 5-6, 2001 in New Orleans in conjunction with the annual APA meeting. With great effort, the group was able to work effectively and accomplish many tasks in spite of meeting in a room with a hypnotizing view of the Mississippi River. The following are highlights of the Board meeting.

Dr. Mirin Visits the Board

Dr. Steve Mirin, APA Medical Director, addressed the Board to further reach out to allied organizations such as the AACP. Recently there also has been outreach to organizations such as the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and the American Psychoanalytic Association. With this outreach, he anticipates the development of a shared agenda that will ultimately decrease fragmentation. The allied organizations (approximately 17 organizations) had plans to meet later in the week. Dr. Mirin asked the Board to submit names of AACP members who could serve on APA components. Other topics of discussion with Dr. Mirin included enhancement of the Office of Minority Affairs and the role of the APA in light of the Surgeon General’s Report on Suicide.

Dr. Thompson Provides APA Update

Dr. Jim Thompson, APA Director of Education and Minority Affairs, provided an update on his division. He reported that Deborah Hales, MD has been recently appointed as Director of APA’sDepartment of Education and Career Development. The Office of Education and Min o rity Affairs will be developing cultural competence workshops and working groups. He is hopeful that the division will be instrumental in bringing psychiatrists together who are interested in the core competency movement. Additionally, he is recruiting a psychiatrist for the Minority and Children’s Office.

He stated that the recent match revealed an increase in the number of American medical students matching into psychiatry, but the number of international medical graduates, upon whom the field has increasingly relied in recent years, is down.

Future Winter Meeting Sites

Mario Cruz, MD will be taking the lead in planning the AACP Winter Meeting 2002 in Tucson, Arizona. Anita Everett, MD has suggested Charlottesville, Virginia as the site of the 2003 Winter Meeting.

New Liaisons Created

The following new liaisons were created: Peter Forster, MD will serve as liaison to both the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry and the International Association for Emergency Psychiatry. Warachal Faison, MD will serve as liaison to the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry. Ken Minkoff, MD will serve as liaison to the National Association for Rural Mental Health.

APA Update

Clif Tennison, MD, the AACP Board’s representative to the APA Assembly, is leaving the Board after seventeen years of service. He was present for the AACP’s first organizational meeting and board meeting. Charley Huffine, MD has nominated Bob Ronis, MD to be the AACP representative to the Assembly. Dr. Tennison reported that the total allied groups are currently 17 with the hope of increasing to 25. Additionally, he commented that the AACP continues to receive accolades for its rigorous participation.

Anita Everitt, MD shared some of the new services that will be of benefit to APA’s membership including a "Members Only" web page. This page will serve as a tracking system for all papers submitted. Additionally she stated that Psychiatric Services subscription would be a free membership benefit next year. Further, the Borderline Personality Treatment Guidelines will soon be finished.

Liaison Reports

American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP):

Wes Sowers, MD reported that the AAAP is moving forward with projects such as the Continuity of Care Guidelines for Addiction. Eric Roskes, MD attended the meeting for Treatment Improvement Protocols for People with Substance Abuse/Addiction in Correctional Settings. Dr. Minkoff is working with the Public Policy Subcommittee on Dual Diagnosis Principles.

American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)

Annelle Primm, MD shared that AAFP is extremely interested in working with Bridging the Gap and AACP. Further, their President-elect, Warren Jones, MD wants mental health to be emphasized within the AAFP and would like AACP members to give presentations at their annual meetings.

American Association of Psychiatric Administrators (AAPA)

Dr. Sowers reported that the Program Committee is developing a joint symposium on the state of medical directors in mental health systems for submission at the next APA. The symposium will be emphasizing the forces that are marginalizing medical directors and ways to counteract these forces.

Black Psychiatrists of America (BPA)

Dr. Primm shared that BPA recently celebrated their 30th anniversary. Among those in attendance were David Satcher, MD, Surgeon General; Richard Harding, MD, APA President-elect; and other advocacy groups. Dr. Altha Stewart has provided strong leadership for the organization but was not re-elected as President. Dr. Shirley Marks was elected the new President and Gloria Pitts, DO is the President-elect. The November Transcultural meeting will be held in Ghana.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists (AACAP)

Dr. Huffine presented the AACAP’s policy statement on Juvenile Death Sentences. After review, the Board unanimously endorsed the statement. The research for CALOCUS has been completed and will be presented to the AACAP Board in June. Additionally, it will be published in the AACAP Journal. The Work Group is planning on working on Guidelines: Psychiatric Practice in Systems of Care Reforms. Dr. Huffine is hopeful that AACP will partner with AACAP on the development of this document.

Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU)

Ken Thompson, MD has been involved with the group in looking at the connection between people working in primary care and mental health settings. The ACU has developed a list serve linking primary care clinicians and community psychiatrists working in Region 3 of the public health services. Interested persons are invited to contact Dr. Thompson.

Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP)

Dr. Minkoff reported that GAP recently published Now that we are Listening: Psychiatrists Report on Letters to Dear Abby from People with Schizophrenia. GAP approached Dear Abby about placing an item in her column requesting that people diagnosed as having schizophrenia write to her and describe their experiences with psychiatrists and psychiatric treatment. The publication is an attempt to summarize what GAP learned from the letters about the process of recovery from schizophrenia, and the ways in which psychiatrists are, or are not, helpful in that process. The publication is being made available to all psychiatric residents. The experiences recorded in the letters may sensitize psychiatric trainees to the needs of individuals with mental illness.

Committee Reports

Communications

Dr. Ken Thompson stated that there would be a charge of $200 for non-members to post items to the list serve. AACP members are allowed to post a job announcement at no charge. The newsletter is now being posted on the web prior to being mailed. There is a bulletin board on the web for postings. The web site continues to receive approximately 24,000 hits/month. In the future Dr. Thompson anticipates posting an article on the website monthly. Questions will then be referred to the author of the article for response.

Diversity

Dr. Russell Lim stated that 33 psychiatrists have been offered the one-year free membership over the past two years. Dr. Lim would like to see the Diversity Committee formalizing their relationship with other committees.

LOCUS

Dr. Sowers reported that LOCUS has generated $6,000 in software royalties over the past quarter and Deerfield Behavioral Health, Inc. delivered a check for that amount to the Board. Aetna, as well as a number of other smaller insurers, has expressed an interest in implementing LOCUS. A hard copy of the newly developed LOCUS Treatment Planner was circulated. The software should be ready in the next year.

Research

Dr. Barbara Rohland will be spearheading the Research Committee. She will be sending an email in the future to identify those persons interested in participating on the Research Committee as well as identifying the goals/objectives of the committee. Some of the broad goals include the maintenance of a bibliography of publications by AACP members and the review of research proposals.

Additional Activities in Progress

Dr. Jack Haggerty is collecting community psychiatry curricula. Please forward any curricula to Dr. Haggerty.
Dr. Mario Cruz reported that the final version of the position statement on Involuntary Outpatient Commitment is close to completion. A final draft will go to the Board within a few weeks.
Other documents to be reviewed by the Board include: Continuity of Care Guidelines and Creating a Risk Environment Conducive to Establishing a Full Range of Housing Options.
Dr. Cruz is planning to write a paper on telemedicine in jails and prisons.
Dr. Peter Forster is part of the APA Task Force on Emergency Psychiatry. The task force will submit draft guidelines for psychiatric emergency and crisis services to the Committee on Psychiatric Services. Drs. Minkoff, Carter, and Cruz will review these standards with Dr. Forster.

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