For addiction psychiatry core competencies, the psychiatry specialist (by the end of PGY V) must be able to:
1. Establish effective relationships with patients and their families.
It is very frequent that addiction and concurrent disorders impact on not just the person suffering from these conditions but the family as well. Often addiction issues occur in multiple members of a family as well. Families often have difficulties in understanding the treatment of addiction.
2. Interact with community caregivers and other health resources to obtain and synthesize relevant information about the patient.
Due to the complexity of concurrent disorder presentations, it is essential to be able to coordinate and communicate amongst treatment providers involved with a patient.
3. Develop a discharge plan for hospitalized patients and learn to involve the family physician, home care and other caregivers in the development of long-term community health planning.
Relapses often occur due to lack of appropriate follow-up to continue a spectrum of care / matching of intensity of treatment to the patient's needs.
4. Learn to communicate effectively and efficiently with colleagues both verbally and through written records (i.e. the medical record, discharge summaries, consultation notes).
These skills will be taught and evaluated in the following ways:
The daily observation of trainee performance by clinical supervisors and ongoing feedback.
A review of the written record by the attending physician and ongoing feedback.
Observation of resident-staff, health-care provider, patient and family interactions during rotations.