Public and Community Psychiatry: (Primer On Series)

Physicians who choose to serve in public-sector mental healthcare settings and physicians-in-training assigned to public-sector mental health clinics may not be fully prepared for the many roles of the public and community psychiatrist. Public and Community Psychiatry is a concise guide for the resident and early-career psychiatrist called upon to serve in the roles of public-sector clinician, team member, advocate, administrator, and academician. Each chapter includes a concise description of these various roles and responsibilities and offers engaging examples of the public psychiatrist at work, as well as case-based problems typical of those faced by the public psychiatrist. Each chapter also features works of art and literature, usually from the public domain, in order to incorporate the core strengths of medical humanities into the dialogue of public-sector mental healthcare. This book aims to provide a level of support to psychiatrists that fosters their desire, individually and collectively, to serve the poor and the marginalized with grit and determination, and to broadly consider their potential to improve not only their patients' well-being, but also these patients' incorporation into their respective communities.

Table of Contents:
1 - The Public Psychiatrist in History 2 - The Public Psychiatrist as Clinician 3 - The Public Psychiatrist as Clinical Team Member 4 - The Public Psychiatrist and the Patient with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities 5 - The Public Psychiatrist and Integrated Health 6 - The Public Psychiatrist as Leader 7 - The Public Psychiatrist as Teacher 8 - The Public Psychiatrist as Researcher 9 - The Public Psychiatrist as Advocate 10 -The Public Psychiatrist in the Future

About the Author :
James G. Baker, MD serves as Associate Chair of Clinical Integration and Services in the Department of Psychiatry at Dell Medical School in Austin, Texas. Dr Baker also serves as Systems Chief Medical Officer for Integral Care, the community mental health center for Austin and Travis County. He is a child/adolescent psychiatrist with more than 25 years of medical administrative experience in public-sector mental health, including service as CEO of the community mental health center for Dallas County and as medical director for behavioral health with the Texas Department of State Health Services.Dr. Baker is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a recipient of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Exemplary Psychiatrist Award, as well as the Mental Health America of Greater Dallas Pamela Blumenthal Memorial Award for long-term commitment to quality of care and delivery of services to people with mental illnesses. Sarah E. Baker, MD, serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. During her training in general psychiatry and forensic psychiatry, Dr. Baker was a Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Fellow as well as a Rappeport Fellow with the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. She has also been a recipient of the Resident Psychiatric Educator Award from the Association for Academic Psychiatry. Dr. Baker holds a master's degree in medical humanities, and she has frequently presented on the application of medical humanities to resident and medical student education.

Review :
"Working effectively in a public psychiatry setting is not easy. The work involves so much more than seeing patients and writing prescriptions. What else does it involve? Read this primer to learn more. It does an excellent job of introducing us to public psychiatry's past and, more importantly, teaches us how to work well in the present." -- Curtis N. Adams, Jr., M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine "This amazing father-daughter public psychiatrist pair has teamed up to co-author an informative textbook on public sector work in psychiatry. This textbook will inspire young professionals considering entry into this field and provide direction to more experienced psychiatrists already serving in the public sector. The authors of this textbook weave wisdom from existing literature with real-life illustrations from their extensive professional experience. This text will be highly informative for a variety of programs educating public sector practitioners." Carol S. North, MD, MPE, DLFAPA The Nancy and Ray L. Hunt Chair in Crisis Psychiatry and Professor of Psychiatry Director, Division of Trauma & Disaster The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center "Public and Community Psychiatry creatively uses socratic questioning, evidence-based practices, case presentations, art, and literature to describe the many complex roles of the 'contemporary public psychiatrist.' They skillfully paint a picture of the psychiatrist as team member, leader, and advocate across the diverse systems of care in which public psychiatrist work. No matter your style of learning or stage of career in psychiatry, there is much to be learned from this book." Stephanie Le Melle MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Director of Public Psychiatry Education, Columbia University/ NYS Psychiatric Institute