Medical Home Concept Discussed

The Trainee in Each of Us:

We physicians are intellectually curious creatures who engage in life-long learning. The APA Annual Meeting is an opportunity to exercise our intellectual curiosity as a necessary element of updating clinically meaningful skills. These skills can be translated into our own practices, and into the education of medical students, residents, and fellow trainees.

The Annual Meeting provides a myriad of topics of interest to attendees. Sessions trigger new ideas and challenge attendees to learn and think in new ways. Thus far, I have selected sessions as diverse as spirituality in psychiatry, CBT practice challenges, and most notably the newly emerging concept of the “medical home.” This multi-faceted concept refers to a clinical setting where patients receive comprehensive, coordinated healthcare, including mental healthcare. In this important era of healthcare analysis and reform, Dr. Eliot Sorel, along with Drs. Frank DeGruy and Michael Houston, provided an intellectually stimulating overview of the medical home goals and challenges. As noted in President-elect Carol Bernstein’s remarks in the opening session, this concept is of utmost importance as we aim to lead the way in healthcare, liaise with our medical colleagues, and provide the best in patient care.

Those of us attending this year’s Annual Meeting will undoubtedly use the knowledge gained in order to better ourselves and our clinical practices. This information also can serve as a springboard to discussion with our peers and medical students, residents, and fellows. In striving to be clinically competent, comprehensive, and caring, we must never underestimate the importance of remaining curious; that is, the importance of recognizing the trainee in each of us.

Jeanne Lackamp, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
University Hospitals/Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Council on Adult Psychiatry, APA