Nearly 50 members already signed up
The Academy’s Board has approved the creation of a new Addiction & Toxicology Special Interest Group (SIG).
The chair is Joseph Rasimas, MD, PhD, FACLP, Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, and the vice-chair Filza Hussain, MD, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. At its outset the SIG has nearly 50 members—many recruited at CLP 2018 where Dr. Rasimas pinned a notice proposing the SIG to the reception noticeboard.
“A SIG is to be assembled to address a serious area of need in C-L Psychiatry with respect to patient care and medical expertise,” he says. “Addictive disorders are so highly prevalent in American patient populations that there are virtually no settings in which care is not impacted by the problem.
“The landscape of addiction is changing with the opioid epidemic accelerating despite attempts at reform and new agents emerging all the time. Acute intoxication and withdrawal are frequently the central reason for presentation to acute care, and C-L psychiatrists are called upon to assist in management.
“Transition of care to outpatient settings with longitudinal attention to treatment needs requires expertise at the interface of bodily and mental medicine. Better integrated care demands addiction care, as well.
“C-L psychiatrists need to be able to recognize manifestations of toxicity and assist other services in the care of a range of issues from life-threatening organ dysfunction to longitudinal impacts on well-being and relationships.
“The goal of the SIG is to mobilize multidisciplinary expertise in addictions and toxicology within ACLP, bring in learning from experts outside the ACLP circle, and enhance the competency of our membership and those we teach to address these unmet health care needs.”
You can join the SIG through the ACLP website here.
See “Tox tests are an add-on to our first principle: a doctor who cares,” this issue.