xxAACP Newsletter, Volume 16, Number 4, Fall 2002
IPS Presentations of the APA/Bristol-Myers Squibb Fellows in Public Psychiatry
A Survey of Residents’ Perspectives on the APA
Thursday, October 10, 1:30 p.m.- 3 p.m.
Salon I, Third Floor
Presenters: Matthew Bernstein, MD, Raymond Kotwicki, MD, Jennifer Coffman, MD, and Susan Turner, MD
Throughout its long history, the APA has attempted to balance its dual roles of representing the interests of its members and advocating for the improved care of psychiatric patients. At times, the APA may be unable to effectively perform these two functions at the same time. This workshop will explore this issue and others by examining the views current resident psychiatrists hold about their own professional organization, the APA. Historical background, current issues, the results of a national resident survey, as well as ideas for future directions will be presented.
Cultural Advocacy for Patients and Residents
Thursday, October 10, 3:30 - 5 p.m.
Salon I, Third Floor
Presenters: Hagit Bat-Avi, MD and Jaime Benitez, MD
Advocacy is a basic issue essential to the maintenance of balanced alliance between patients and their psychiatrists. Advocacy carries the paternalism of the medical field. Residents must advocate for their sick patients, assist them and stand to help them overcome the obstacles of mental illness. There is a cultural need in advocacy as well, being culturally sensitive and understanding the etiology of diseases as it applies to patients.
Shackles and Gold: Advocating for Patients and Psychiatrists
Friday, October 11, 2002, 8 - 9:30 a.m.
Salon I, Third Floor
Presenters: Mathieu Bermingham, MD and Eric Levander, MD
Psychiatrists and organized psychiatry have long played an important role in shaping attitudes and beliefs about mental illness and mental health policy. As the principal organization representing American psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association has played a significant role in advocating for changes in mental health care. The American Psychiatric Association has played a dual role, representing both psychiatrists and patients. At times, these interests can be at conflict with one another. The speakers will evaluate policy approaches to current problems in psychiatry.
In an effort to better understand this tension between self-interest and patient advocacy, the workshop will examine how the American Psychiatric Association has responded to changes in American medicine. More specifically, presenters will focus on how the corporatization of American medicine has affected psychiatry. Additionally, they will discuss how psychiatry’s advocacy goals have changed as a result of the shift from primarily hospital-based care to private practice and community-based care.
Biases of Non-Psychiatric MDs in the General Medical Care of Patients with Mental Illness
Friday, October 11, 2002, 10 - 11:30 a.m.
Salon I, Third Floor
Presenters: Melva Green, MD, and Alison M. Barnes, MD
The Surgeon General has recently brought the disparity of the treatment of mentally ill patients to the forefront of healthcare in the new millennium. The purpose of this workshop is to further illuminate this disparity by exploring some of the biases within the healthcare community that lead to sub-optimal general medical care for these patients. Survey data collected from non-psychiatry MD residents in the Baltimore area will be presented to facilitate this discussion. Participants will have an opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of the climate of general medical care for mentally ill patients and the stigma inadvertently perpetuated by our non-mental health clinicians. At the conclusion, participants will have an opportunity to discuss and formulate additional strategies in educating our non-psychiatry MD peers and ultimately gain other avenues for advocating for patients with mental illness.
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