The SIG has met regularly and virtually over the past year. These discussions have been helpful in members’ clinical work and have generated a manuscript on phosphatidylethanol use in liver transplantation that is under peer review at the time of writing. Members are enthusiastic about many other addiction- and toxicology-related topics which have given rise to several symposia proposals submitted for CLP 2023. In the coming year, regular SIG meetings will continue and, as our relationships and collaborations develop further, we anticipate more scholarly output and clinical collaborations.

Visit the Addiction & Toxicology SIG page on the Academy website here.

During winter/spring 2023 we sponsored or co-sponsored three abstract  submissions for CLP 2023:

• It’s a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood, a workshop sponsored by our SIG, which focused on the similarities and differences in the way our field and subspecialty is practiced across different communities.
• Telepsychiatry: Available? Yes. Accessible? Not Always, a workshop co-sponsored with the Telepsychiatry SIG.
• Sustainable Integrated Care Models, co-sponsored with the Integrative Medicine (Complementary & Alternative Medicine) SIG.

Although they were not chosen for this year’s meeting, it was an opportunity to virtually meet other SIG members, and members of other SIGs; to exchange ideas; and to begin to think of other ways to continue our working together in the future. It was fun and hopefully will be the springboard to more collaborative projects in years to come.

Summer plans for our SIG and SIG members include those we all share— transitions in staff, trainees (for those who have them), and also among our patient populations whose schedules often shift along with ours. And still the work, and our work, goes on.

ACLP 2023 is right around the corner—Austin, Texas, here we come! We hope to see you all there. Bring yourselves, your ideas, your energy, and your interest. The SIG continues to strive to be there for you, for networking, for support for the work we do, and the professionals we are.

Finally, we are looking to expand the leadership of the SIG. If anyone is interested please let me know via email: hmermelstein@gmail.com

See you in Austin!

The SIG was approved by the ACLP Board in April 2022, so we are celebrating our first 1.5 years of activity. We had our first in-person SIG meeting in Atlanta at the 2022 Annual Meeting along with conducting our first SIG-sponsored preconference course (Critical Care Psychiatry Survival Guide, with 110 paid attendees) and a symposium (Updates in Critical Care Psychiatry 2022: The Differential Diagnosis for Altered (Hypoactive) Mental Status in Critically Ill Patients).

The SIG has remained very strong, with monthly meetings and a very active education track, which achieved several submissions accepted for CLP 2023, including:

• A symposium An Equal Opportunity Offender: Delirium Throughout the Lifespan. A review as the various presentation, diagnostic approaches, and impact of delirium at the various stages of life in the medical setting will feature a pediatric anesthesiologist discussing pediatric delirium; a C-L psychiatrist discussing adult delirium; and a palliative care specialist discussing geriatric and terminal delirium.
• A symposium Critical Care Psychiatry—Can the Proactive Approach Work in the ICU?, will discuss the Proactive C-L Psychiatry model in the ICU environment.
• A preconference course Standing Shoulder to Shoulder with our Intensivist Colleagues: How Critical Care Psychiatrists Can Assist in the Application of the A-F Bundle, on the role of critical care psychiatry in working collaboratively with critical care personnel in the management of delirium.

The SIG has four standing committees:

Scholarly Track—Led by Jordan Rosen, MD, this track is working on reviewing existing literature, providing critique and commentary, and producing scholarly content, including the publication of peer-reviewed manuscripts. Its members are also developing a central repository of critical care psychiatry resources germane to the work in critical care settings.

Education/Training Track—Led by Melissa Bui, MD, this track is designed to teach trainees, junior attendings, and those wanting to develop an expertise in the field (boot-camp style). Among its mission, this group will design and deliver advanced courses at the ACLP annual meeting, including the continuation of the Critical Care Reviews Annual Series.

Guidelines Track—Yelizaveta Sher, MD, FACLP, leads this track which is developing protocols and guidelines to be submitted to the ACLP’s Guidelines & Evidence-Based Medicine Subcommittee in order to standardize our field’s evidence-based approach to care.

Research Track—José Maldonado, MD, FACLP, leads this track intended to seek out mentorship opportunities to support the development of quality improvement and research methodologies, identify research projects, and increase the collaboration among SIG members interested in clinical research. Currently three projects are under consideration.

Other future plans

The SIG has continued to work with the APA Publishing on the publication of a Critical Care Psychiatry Textbook. Professor Maldonado (Stanford) will serve as its chief editor, with contributions from SIG members and experts in the field.

The SIG meets the first Tuesday of every month at 11:00 EST or 08:00 PST. The SIG also offers mentorship and expert consultation regarding issues related to the practice of critical care psychiatry in the critical care setting.

Visit the Critical Care Psychiatry SIG page on the Academy website here, or contact us through the listserv email: critical-care@list.clpsychiatry.org

The SIG continues to grow its network of C-L psychiatrists working with Spanish-speaking populations in the US and abroad.

During our quarterly meetings we discuss updates on numerous topics and discuss best practices in delivering care and education to Spanish-speaking communities.

We are looking into collaborating with other SIGs, particularly the Early Career Psychiatrists and Research SIGs, to develop pathways/projects to improve care delivered to Spanish-speaking/Hispanic American communities, in order to create more inclusive, culturally sensitive clinical and research efforts.

Visit the Hispano-American Psychiatry SIG page on the Academy website here.

We invite you to join our SIG, a community of professionals dedicated to advancing HIV psychiatry! Our group has experienced significant growth with nearly 700 members.

In our recent meetings we discussed various topics that reflect our commitment to research, publications, and presentations in the field. For instance, we are actively shaping the future of HIV psychiatry by developing clinical guidelines to diagnose and treat depression and substance use disorders in people living with HIV.

We are also excited about the upcoming ACLP annual meeting where we will host a symposium to address challenges and triumphs across the lifespan of people living with HIV following an interactive case-based approach.

Furthermore, our SIG is engaged in international collaborations, with accepted symposia to the World Psychiatric Association, to explore topics such as the diagnosis and treatment of HIV neuropsychiatric comorbidities, how to address moral perceptions about HIV, and address stigma via psychotherapy.

Our dedication to sharing knowledge extends to developing scientific manuscripts, potential articles for Psychiatric News and Psychiatric Times, and the production of podcasts and publications. Our most recent book, HIV Psychiatry—A Practical Guide for Clinicians, has already garnered more than 10,000 downloads and continues to thrive online and in print.

By joining our SIG, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with esteemed professionals in the field, contribute to cutting-edge research and publications, and make a meaningful impact on HIV psychiatry. For more information on how to get involved, please feel free to contact our SIG co-chairs, Drs. Luis Pereira and Paulo Sales, or join us via this link.

Visit the HIV/AIDS Psychiatry SIG page on the Academy website here.

The SIG looks forward to seeing members at CLP 2023 in Austin where Phil Muskin, MD, FACLP, and Ana Ivkovic, MD, will be teaching hypnosis in a preconference course, and where Pam Mirsky, MD, FACLP, will lead morning mindfulness sessions.

Our group will meet to plan future activities including quarterly Zoom meetings and collaboration around scholarly work.

Two of our members, Uma Naidoo, MD, and Madeleine Becker, MD, FACLP, were invited presenters for a Presidential Session on Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at the APA Annual Meeting in May 2023. In addition, Dr. Naidoo  and peers have published a paper validating a brief diet quality screener (the rPDQS) that identifies clinically relevant patterns of food intake.

Our SIG enthusiastically welcomes interest from members of the ACLP community who would like to learn more or join.

Visit the Integrative Medicine (Complementary & Alternative Medicine) SIG page on the Academy website here.

The SIG has had a productive year. Each task group has met the goals established at the ACLP 2022 Annual Meeting in Atlanta and its subsequent bi-monthly meetings in January, March and May.

The SIG has successfully met every two months via Zoom, and continues to work on the development and expansion of three existing task forces, as well as a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force reflective of the SIG’s mission. A new task force dedicated to working on guidelines development has also been created.

We have growing participation and many new members, including trainees and students.

Our task groups are busily working away on designated projects and being diligent about maintaining deadlines for scholarly products:

SIG-sponsored symposia task force—Under the leadership of Kamalika Roy, MD, and Badr Ratnakaran, MD, the task force has expanded its participants and submitted abstracts for informative workshops, symposia, and Skills courses for CLP 2023. The task force also continues to meet independently outside of the regularly scheduled SIG meetings.

Education task force—Jeffrey Zabinski, MD, and Timothy Kiong, MD, have taken the lead on this task force, and group members continue to compile a list of online resources in neuropsychiatry. In collaboration with the Online Education Group, by CLP 2023 the SIG will have a newly launched website of video lectures, literature references, and neuropsychiatry-focused websites among other educational resources for Academy member to access.

The SIG has been invited to present an ACLP Education Committee-sponsored case conference on functional neurological disorders. And robust monthly member case discussions via the listserv continue amongst our very active members.

Scholarship task force—Under the leadership of Durga Roy, MD, FACLP, this task force has successfully led manuscript production. Currently, several scholarship projects are underway, including:

• A systematic review on neuropsychiatric symptoms in COVID-19, which has been completed and submitted for publication.
• A systematic review on Huntington’s Disease and OCD, currently in progress.
• A cross-institution retrospective chart review research study on the treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms after TBI, which has been submitted and is under review.
• A systematic review on the use of N-acetylcysteine in neuropsychiatric disorders.

DEI task force—Led by Victoria Wong Murray (trainee) and Nicole Pavlatos- Delavoye, MD, this newly formed task force will be working on incorporating DEI initiatives into neuropsychiatry work.

Case discussions continue on the listserv where members present a challenging, de-identified case on a neuropsychiatric syndrome for discussion amongst SIG members on average once per quarter. 

The social media group has developed a Twitter hashtag (Neuropsychiatry #CLPNEUROPSYCH) so that resources on C-L neuropsychiatry can be widely accessed.

The SIG is also collaborating with Edward Kane, MD, (Maudsley Hospital, London) to encourage participation and collaboration of clinicians and trainees in an International Neuropsychiatry Journal Club.    

Visit the Neuropsychiatry SIG page on the Academy website here.

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic fading over the past year, the growing need for pediatric mental health care has been highlighted nationally. The American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the US Surgeon General have all released statements highlighting issues in pediatric mental health. In this context, the SIG has increasingly high levels of interest.

Maryland Pao, MD, FACLP, SIG co-founding member, is the current ACLP president, and her annual meeting theme this year is Integrating Care and Evidence Across the Lifespan.

At the 2022 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, the first in-person meeting since 2019, SIG leader Laura Markley, MD, FACLP, presented a review of Pediatric C-L Psychiatry at the preconference Essentials course. The SIG breakfast had the highest attendance number that any members present could recall. A networking dinner was held and well-received. Presentations at the meeting given by SIG members drew robust interest and attendance. Requests to be added to the SIG remain frequent. 

At the SIG virtual meeting in winter 2023, members met virtually to discuss coordination of a wide breadth of possible submissions for CLP 2023. Multiple talks were submitted by SIG members, including those developed in collaboration with other SIGS, and SIG-sponsored talks. Several submissions have been accepted, including a SIG-sponsored preconference course, The Social (Media) Being: Psychiatrists’ Guide to the Trials and Tribulations of the Virtual Self Across the Lifespan.

In February 2023, Drs. Jacobson and Markley participated as expert panel discussants for a virtual case conference regarding pediatric catatonia, sponsored by the ACLP Neuropsychiatry SIG. The opportunity for this collaboration was exciting and educational, and there is hope for similar opportunities in the future.

The SIG continues to share a listserv with the Physically Ill Child Committee (PICC) of the American Academy of Child-Adolescent Psychiatry. This was due to Dr. Pao’s efforts and support in the past, and the ongoing partnership with current leaders of the PICC. The linkage with this highly active forum allows shared communication between the two groups with similar interests. Members of either (or both) AACAP and ACLP use the listserv to review clinical and administrative topics and put forward questions for collective advice and support. We continue to discuss ways to expand the use of our own internal listserv as a networking and collaborating resource for members.

Visit the Pediatric C-L Psychiatry SIG page on the Academy website here.

Updates

At the 2023 European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine (EAPM) conference in Wroclaw, Poland, Jane Walker, MBChB, PhD, FACLP, and Michael Sharpe, MD, FACLP, presented results of the HOME Study and participated in a symposium, with Hochang Lee, MD, FACLP,  and Wolfgang Söllner, MD, FACLP, discussing the results and implications for future study. Also at EAPM, Devendra Thakur, MD, chaired a symposium Psychiatrists in Dialogue with Non-Physicians in Proactive Consultation, with presentations by himself, Dr. Lee, Sophia Matta, MD, and Pat Triplett, MD, as well as a description of, and results from, a Proactive C-L Psychiatry program in Kyiv, Ukraine, by Professor Olena Khaustova.

Upcoming events

Members of the Proactive C-L Psychiatry SIG have had two live workshops accepted as part of CLP 2023:

• Critical Care Psychiatry—Can the Proactive Approach Work in the ICU?—a joint proposal from the SIG and the Critical Care Psychiatry SIG.
• Enhancing the Quality of Quality Improvement: Case Studies in Proactive C-L.

Also accepted for presentation is a brief oral paper describing a project looking at four years of data for proactive and traditional C-L services at an AMC.

Ongoing opportunities

For regularly updated resources on proactive C-L Psychiatry, check out our SIG website, which we continue to update. If you’re looking for something that’s not there, please let us know!

As always, we invite you to join our SIG for access to the listserv and to receive updates on news and opportunities for collaboration.

Visit the Proactive C-L Psychiatry SIG page on the Academy website here.

The SIG semi-annual meeting was held in June. The group worked on finalizing the search terms for our upcoming review of quality measurement opportunities in C-L Psychiatry, and we’ll begin writing our white paper (on recommendations for what strategies the ACLP should consider in contributing to the development of quality measures and metrics) in earnest this summer. We look forward to sharing what we’ve learned with the rest of the Academy next year!

The SIG continues to build membership and momentum in 2023! We have a new SIG co-chair, Daniel Shalev, MD, who will be helping us move forward with several initiatives.

We are planning to start a quarterly virtual meeting for members, where we can discuss opportunities and challenges in C-L Psychiatry research, including discussion of potential grants, papers, and projects-in-progress.

Partnering with the ACLP’s DEI and Research Subcommittees, we are co-sponsors of a workshop accepted for CLP 2023, Social Justice Through Scholarship: Integrating DEI and Research in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

The work of many SIG members will be highlighted at the annual meeting, though poster and oral presentations.

The subcommittee has developed a new Developing Scholars Research Colloquium at the annual meeting. We hope that this will be of interest to many SIG members. More information can be found here.

Visit the Research SIG page on the Academy website here.

Two proposals were accepted for CLP 2023: one is co-sponsored by the Geriatric Psychiatry SIG and one is a Skills course.

Recurrent topics at our monthly meetings include: challenges of transplant candidates with acute alcoholic hepatitis; evaluations of living liver donors; ‘soft outcomes’ in transplantation—the role of quality of life and psychological well-being as a measurable outcome. In addition, case discussions remain fascinating and a main advantage of being a SIG member.

There has been a steady membership increase after a total data refresh in 2020, including several international new members, from Switzerland, Ireland, and the UK.

Our SIG produced the first ACLP clinical care guidance: ACLP Best Practice Guidance: Evaluation and Treatment of Depression in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients. Zimbrean PC, Andrews SR, Hussain F, Fireman M, Kuntz K, Niazi SK, Simpson SA, Soeprono T, Winder GS, Jowsey-Gregoire SG.J Acad Consult Liaison Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 30:S2667-2960(23)00048-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jaclp.2023.03.007. Online ahead of print. PMID: 37003570.

SIG members are currently participating in the ACLP task force to streamline the guidelines process of planning, writing. and approval within our organization. 

The SIG’s accepted presentations at CLP 2023 are:

Workshop: Uncovering the Unconscious: An Examination of Individual and Structural Inequities in Solid Organ Transplantation. (Moderator Drs. Robert Weinrieb, Brooke Lifland, Yuki Fukui, Kelly Park, Christine Annibali.)

Oral presentation: The Integrated Liver Transplant Engagement and Recovery Network (ILEARN) Project for Post-Liver Transplant Management of Alcohol Use Disorders. (Drs. Robert Weinrieb, Arpita Goswami.)

Oral presentation: Examining the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Liver Transplantation: A Retrospective Analysis (Drs. Aniruddha Deka, Destiny Pegram, Michael Schilsky, Paula Zimbrean.)

Virtual symposium: Not Just Alcohol and Livers: What About the Other Substance-Related Challenges in End-Stage Disease and Transplant?  (G. Scott Winder, MD, FACLP, et al.)

Workshop: Too Young to Die—The Continuum of End-of-Life Care in Adolescents and Young Adults sponsored by the Palliative Medicine and Psycho-Oncology SIG with an embedded transplant-specific presentation Transplant Denial in the Young Recipient: The Role of Physician Decision-Making (Shruti Mutalik, MD).

Oral presentation: Clinical Utility of Phosphatidylethanol (Peth) testing in Liver Transplantation Evaluations (David Fipps, DO).

Workshop: The Transplant and the Brain: Cognitive Deficits through the Transplant Process across the Lifespan (Drs. Yelizaveta Sher, Filza Hussain, Sarah Andrews, Timothy Wong, Jon Sole).

Poster: Delayed-Onset Psychosis after Lung Transplant Secondary to Tacrolimus Neurotoxicity (Drs. Matthew Gunther, Max Jiang, Yelizaveta Sher).

Workshop: Uncovering the Unconscious: An Examination of Individual and Structural Inequities in Solid Organ Transplantation (Drs. Brooke Lifland, Yuki Fukui, Kelly Park, Christine Annibali, Robert Weinrieb).

Oral presentation: The Integrated Liver Transplant Engagement and Recovery Network (ILEARN) Project for Post-Liver Transplant Management of Alcohol Use Disorders (Drs. Robert Weinrieb, Arpita Goswami).

For the second part of 2023, the SIG will continue monthly meetings; complete peer review educational materials; prepare presentations for CLP 2023; and continue to work on educational materials (next is a To-Do guide for evaluation of a living organ donor).

Visit the Transplant Psychiatry SIG page on the Academy website here.

The SIG has remained active in 2023 and committed to the dissemination of work related to reproductive psychiatry and women’s health. The membership of the group is diverse, spans the globe, and continues to grow.

The SIG met virtually earlier this year to discuss collaborations for ACLP 2023’s annual meeting abstract submissions. Of these, several SIG-sponsored submissions were accepted including a preconference course on psychopharmacology in women’s health. Additional work related to reproductive psychiatry was accepted, including workshops and posters/oral papers presented by SIG members. 

SIG members have collaborated on several academic projects and are currently working on a paper focused on addressing maternal mortality and care inequities in reproductive psychiatry (based on our preconference course focused on providing care for marginalized communities during CLP 2022). We will also be working in collaboration with the ACLP Guidelines and Evidence-Based Medicine Subcommittee to develop clinical guidelines in women’s health. In our efforts to increase outreach, we are creating a series on perinatal psychiatry for an ACLP podcast for this fall.

The SIG has an established listserv for communication throughout the year. We value discussions around academic collaborations, case discussions, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The SIG will continue to provide opportunities to network and collaborate on projects. Please be in touch if you wish to be included in our listserv.

Visit the Women’s Health SIG page on the Academy website here.