January 8, 2008
Dear Friends and colleagues,
You have received this letter because you have been a recent member of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry, or because you have voiced an interest in joining.
As I write to you the news is full of the political hurly burly of a presidential election year. The watchwords seem to be change and hope. In that spirit I would like to share with you some of the changes in the organization and the hopes that we have for it over the next few years.
I would like to begin by introducing myself as the new President of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry. I am currently on the faculty of the University of Iowa in the departments of Medicine and Psychiatry. I came to this position after completing a combined Internal Medicine/Psychiatry residency. In the course of my practice at the University of Iowa have had the opportunity to work in many areas that reflect the mission of the Association. These have included a Med-Psych inpatient unit, a Med-Psych clinic, a collaborative care program in primary care and a Med-Psych residency program.
As many of you know this mission is to enhance the care of patients with concurrent physical and neuropsychiatric disorders through. The association seeks to achieve this:
1. By creating educational programs to disseminate basic science and clinical knowledge about concurrent medical and psychiatric illness and the care of patients with such comorbidities;
2. By developing curricula and teaching materials for students, residents and fellows in the primary care and psychiatric specialties;
3. By generating guidelines for residencies in Internal Medicine/Psychiatry and Family Medicine/Psychiatry, fellowships in Psychiatry in the Medically Ill for primary care physicians, Medical/Psychiatry Units and Medical/Psychiatry Clinics;
4. By setting priorities and fostering basic and applied research in the care of patients with both physical and psychiatric problems; and
5. By participating in national forums related to the assessment, treatment and research funding of projects pertinent to the care of patients with combined illness.
This association invites balanced participation by primary care physicians, psychiatrists and dually trained practitioners which makes it an ideal forum for innovation in the dissemination of information, creation of services and training programs, and the performance of research for benefiting patients with physical and psychiatric problems.
I know that many of you share my passion for pursuing the goals above. In pursuing a career in this area of medicine, this association has provided me with a forum for meeting and collaborating with others who share that passion. Thus it is a privilege and an honor to have been asked to serve you and help to shape this organization into a force for progress and innovation in this fields.
Unfortunately it is also a considerable challenge and one in which I am requesting your help. We are trying this year to rejuvenate the organization and get it back on firm footing. I would also like to ensure that the association is meeting the needs of you, the members.
Over the last few years we have been plagued with administrative difficulties that have made it hard to communicate with you regularly or to collect dues on a consistent basis. This is a situation that I would like to rectify.
Many of you who have not heard consistently from the association may wonder as to what the current activities and future directions of the association are. To this end I have attached a brief summary of recent developments and plans for the immediate future that I hope you will review.
The first order of business is to update our list of members and to collect dues to allow the organization to move forward with the initiatives described above. In order to move forward with the above I would like to request your help in the following areas
I. Renewing membership: I am attaching a membership form in lieu of a dues statement. For those of you who have been long term members this will allow us to update your information. If you no longer wish to be a member of the organization please send me an email noting this.
II. Tell us about your needs: The form includes some questions about how you would like to see the organization progress in future. The council and I would really value your feedback on this.
III. Join us at the Annual Meeting: Information about the 2008 meeting will be disseminated no later than mid-February. It is slated for the fall, in August/September. I would look forward to your joining us there and participating in a discussion on future direction for this group.
Again, I am glad to be in this position and would like to thank you for this opportunity to serve you as the President. I look forward to working with you and hopefully meeting each of you at our annual meeting. If I can be of any other assistance, please feel free to email me at medpsych@amedpsych.com.
Sincerely,
Anjan Bhattacharyya, MD.
January 2008
1. Annual Meeting:
In August 2007 we held the Annual Meeting of the AMP in collaboration with a meeting of Combined Residencies in Iowa City, IA. This followed on the success of a similar meeting of the Combined residencies the previous year with a two pronged focus of 1) a CME program on mental health problems in primary care, and treating patients with complex comorbid illness and 2) Workshops addressing the needs of residents and graduates of combined programs including career planning and a vignette competition. The meeting was well attended with representatives of residency programs from across the country as well as primary care providers and mental health professionals from across the region. There were also a number of medical students with an interest in psychosomatic medicine or combined residency training that attended the program. The association plans to repeat this conference with a similar format in 2008 and the details of this are being finalized and will be disseminated to you by Mid-February.
While past meetings have traditionally been held in conjunction with a national meeting such as the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine or the Society of General Internal Medicine, there seems to be enough interest in the areas of our focus that this meeting can sustain itself independently and attract a mixed audience of primary care providers, dually trained physicians and some mental health professionals. The association will continue to collaborating with the abovementioned organizations in a variety of ways over the coming years.
2. Association Journal:
The AMP recently renewed it’s association with the Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry which is the official journal of the organization. The journal leadership remains very enthusiastic about the collaboration and welcomes submissions from our members. All active members receive a complimentary subscription to the Journal. Due to problems in our membership directory many of you have not been receiving the journal, but renewing your membership at this time will allow us to correct that situation.
3. Renewed focus on dissemination of knowledge:
Dissemination of knowledge regarding co-morbid illness and its treatment to both primary care providers and mental health professionals working in such areas has always been a focus of the association. As mentioned above this was a major focus of the recent conference in the form of CME programs directed at primary care physicians and psychiatrists. The Association plans to renew this focus through expansion of the annual meeting and the collaboration with the journal. There are plans to include dissemination of research findings with poster and scientific presentations at the annual meeting.
4. Forums on Integrated Care:
Roger Kathol, a founding member of this organization has been working on developing a national meeting of people and organizations associated with integrated care programs. This is meant to be a forum for dissemination of practice models and collaboration and innovation. There are plans to try to collaborate or integrate this with our annual meeting in the future.
5. Combined Training
a. Program Director Forum: The last year has seen some exciting developments in combined residency training in Internal Medicine/Psychiatry and Family Medicine/Psychiatry. 3 new programs opened their doors to applicants this year as well as one program expanding it’s number of positions. The program directors have formed a collaborative group under the auspices of this organization and are moving forward with plans to collaborate on issues of program development, assessment and recruitment. While some programs have closed, there is considerable optimism that this new collaboration will reverse this trend.
b. Fenton Award: The Martin Fenton award remains the only award of it’s kind awarded annually to an outstanding resident in a combined Family Medicine/Psychiatry or Internal Medicine/Psychiatry residency program.
c. Outreach to Medical Students: Several program directors have pioneered outreach programs to medical schools in their region, in order to educate students on the nature of combined programs and the kinds of career paths that they lead to. Further collaborative efforts utilizing the AMP website as well as direct contact with medical and osteopathic school interest groups are being planned by the program directors in collaboration.
Faculty Position for a dual-board certified
FAMILY PHYSICIAN-PSYCHIATRIST
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
The Department of Family and Preventive Medicine (http://medicine.ucsd.edu/fpm/) is seeking a Family Physician-Psychiatrist faculty member at the assistant or associate level who is interested in joining an academic and community-based, full-spectrum family practice and psychiatric practice, situated in “free clinic” settings, with teaching of medical students and residents. Salary will be based on the UC pay scale. Candidates will be expected to show evidence of outstanding qualifications through letters of recommendation, teaching evaluations, and patient satisfaction assessments. Responsibilities will include outpatient and inpatient care and on-call coverage, and teaching. Practice of obstetrics is welcome, but not required. Demonstration of scholarly interests will be expected. Applicants must have completed EITHER an accredited Combined Family Medicine-Psychiatry Residency Program, or both of: an accredited family medicine residency-training program and an accredited general psychiatry residency program, and be board certified or board eligible in both Family Medicine and General Psychiatry, and be eligible for licensure in California. Applications received by February 29, 2008, or thereafter until position is filled, will be considered. To apply, e-mail a detailed C.V. and names and addresses of at least three references to gkallenberg@ucsd.edu or Margaret McCahill, M.D. (mmccahill@ucsd.edu), or via U.S. Mail to:
Gene A. Kallenberg, M.D.
Division Chief
Division of Family Medicine
UCSD School of Medicine
9500 Gilman Dr., Mail code 0807
La Jolla, CA 92093-0807
UCSD is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer with a strong institutional commitment to the achievement of excellence through diversity among its faculty and staff.
Dear Fellow Med-Psych Program Directors,
Spread the word. Our University of Cincinnati Family Medicine Psychiatry Program is adding a position at each of the R2 and R1 levels for July 2008. We have secured funding to expand back to our original size of 2 residents per year beginning with this 2008 Match. If you know of any R1 residents in FM or Psychiatry or osteopathic internships looking for a R2 spot in Family Medicine Psychiatry, please FORWARD this to them.
The University of Cincinnati/Christ Hospital Family Medicine Psychiatry Program, a university and community hospital-based program associated with our university's strong financial and academic foundations, is a 5-year residency that leads to board certification in both family medicine and psychiatry. We are expanding our FMP program by recruiting for a second resident at the R2 level and two residents at the R1 level in July 2008, for a total of 8 residents in the FMP Program. Our Family Medicine Program is well know for its international health/community health/care of underserved populations curriculum. Our Psychiatry Program is well known for its research and psychotherapy training.
For information on the UC FMP program, see www.psychiatry.uc.edu or call the program director, Lawson Wulsin, MD, 513 558 5192
Application materials should be sent as soon as possible to lawson.wulsin@uc.edu. We're aiming to complete the selection process by the end of February 2008.
Thanks,
Lawson Wulsin
2006 Association of Medicine and Psychiatry Annual Meeting
Wednesday, April 26th
Westin Bonaventure Hotel
Los Angeles
The AMP meeting is being held in conjunction with the Society of General Internal Medicine annual meeting, which begins on April 27.
Click here for more information about the SGIM Annual Meeting
The November 2004 AMP Newsletter is now available online. You can download the entire newsletter in Word format for viewing offline and printing. You can download the file by clicking on the following link:
November 2004 AMP Newsletter in Word Format
(Note: Some people have reported that the link will ask for "authentification" - if it does this, just click "cancel" and the file will open properly)
President's Letter - November 2004
Caroline Carney Doebbeling, MD, MSc
Last month I cared for a patient with lung cancer who was referred to me for an evaluation of anxiety and depression. Upon arrival in my office, his dyspnea was so severe, that he had difficulty speaking during the first ten minutes of the diagnostic evaluation. In addition to treating his target mental symptoms, I also started him on oxygen. He called a week later to report that his overall sense of well-being and stamina had greatly improved. He asked why his other doctor hadn’t recommended oxygen.
Inviting you to review abstracts
Caroline Carney Doebbeling, MD, MSc
I have been asked by Jeff Jackson and Stefan G. Kertesz, Scientific Abstract Chairs for the 2005 SGIM Annual Meeting, to chair the new abstract category Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Because of your interest and expertise at the interface of medicine and psychiatry, I would like to invite you to review abstracts for this new category. Please let me know by OCTOBER 29th if you’d like to be part of this review committee.
I greatly look forward to your input. William Tierney and Martha Gerrity, new editors of JGIM, are committed to expanding coverage on mental health topics. I’ve recently accepted the position of Deputy Editor for Mental Health. Please consider signing up to be a reviewer. It’s easy to do and takes only a couple of minutes. If you were on the reviewers’ list previously, your name and contact information may not have been transferred to the new data base. Go to http://www.research.iupui.edu/jgim/authors/Reviewers.asp and complete the brief questionnaire which will ask for key words in your areas of interest. Let’s work together to make JGIM the best journal for articles regarding the interplay of mental health and medical issues!
Stay well and hope to see many of you in November 2005 and May 2005.
Minnesota Psychiatric Society Integrated Care Task Force
Roger Kathol, M.D.
The following document is an FYI for members of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry and a request for information about similar initiatives in the United States or elsewhere. As all of you know, the medical climate is changing to one in which treatment of psychiatric illness in the medical setting is becoming a target for program development. Now that we have a critical mass of jointly trained physicians, it is important that clinical opportunities be created, which maximize the value that psychiatrists with non-psychiatric specialty expertise can bring to the system and the patients they treat. The Minnesota Integration Task Force is pursuing such a project. While the traditional consult model is of significant value, it does not typically lead to outcome change in the majority of patients treated. It is thus important to create new collaborative care paradigms in which this can more consistently occur.
The MPS project has gained the endorsement of the Minnesota Medical Association, the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (a statewide health care improvement body), the Minnesota business community, and the Governor’s Health Care Cabinet. Perhaps the most important part of the initiative is that it is being supported within the current health care purchasing and reimbursement system and not by external grants. This will allow the model programs in the initial network to roll out to other clinical sites in the rest of Minnesota once the success of the programs is documented.
I look forward to hearing from others who are creating similar environments or are interested in considering doing so in their own state.
MPS Project Information (Word Document) (if asked for a login/password, just click cancel)
"Self-Harm Behavior & Eating Disorders" publication
Randy Sansone
Because many of you share my interest in self-harm behavior and/oreating disorders, I wanted to notify you about our upcoming publication, "Self-Harm Behavior and Eating Disorders." I have attached a flyer and would appreciate it if you would place this in a strategic location in your department or treatment center for those faculty and clinicians who may be interested in these topics. Thank you!
Flyer on "Self Harm Behavior and Eating Disorders"
