CTSAM Co-sponsors 4th Annual ASAM Educational

On May 13th 2015, residents and fellows in the Connecticut region competed in the finals of the 4th Annual ASAM Educational, an event which is co-sponsored by the Connecticut Chapter of American Society of Addiction Medicine, The Combined Rushford, Yale ABAM Fellowship Journal Club and the Connecticut State Medical Society.

The event was held at the Connecticut State Medical Society in North Haven Connecticut. The competition was open to residents and fellows in the Connecticut region including Massachusetts, and asks participants to study and answer the question “How does addiction impact the patients you treat in your specialty?” Each participant has to create and present a slideshow to a panel of expert judges answering that question.

This year’s finalists were:

• 1st Place - Ajay Manahapra, MD, from the VA Inter-professional Fellow in Addiction Medicine, for Long Term Opioid Therapy for Pain: Dependent or Addicted?!!

• 2nd Place - Jenna Butner, MD, a Yale ABAM Fellow, for Walking the Tightrope, Treating Pain in the Patient with Substance Use Disorder.
• 3rd Place - Christine Shapter MD, a Psychiatry Resident at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital, York Jia, MD, a Anesthesia Resident with the University of Connecticut and Maureen E. Czick, MD, a Faculty Adviser at Integrated Anesthesia Associates, Hartford Hospital for their presentation Hidden Dangers of a Controversial Addiction: Obesity and Anesthetic Management; and Teofilo E. Matos Santana, MD, a Yale Department of Psychiatry PGY4 for The Illness Behind Addiction.

Other presentations included:

• Addiction in Clinical Medicine by Michael Gillespie, MD.
• Caregiver Substance Abuse and Attachment by Gavrosh Faylayev, MD, a Psychiatry Resident, Institute of Living PGY3.
• Legally Harmful by Kristin Gates, MD, from Middlesex Family Medicine Residency, Middletown, CT.
• Opioid Addiction in Primary Care by Alicia Agnoli, MD,MPH, from Tufts University Family Medicine Residency, PGY3.
• Borderline Personality Disorder and Substance Use Disorder by Sarah Calnan, DO, MPH, a Psychiatry Resident, Institute of Living PGY1.
• K2/Spice in Veterans: Not for Human Consumption by Lantie Quinones, MD, a Yale Addiction Psychiatry Fellow.
• Tobacco Use and Related Substance Use Disorders in the Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic by Alberto Gonzalez MD, Javeeria Manzoor MD, Galina Prpich, MS, Grace Chan, PhD, Jayesh Kamath, MD, PhD, from the University of Connecticut Department of Psychiatry.

The Annual ASAM Educational was started in 2012 by Dr. Samuel Silverman, who is an ASAM Fellow and was a member of the CT ASAM Executive Committee. Dr. Silverman was inspired by the Hartford Hospital/Institute of Living 1st year psychiatric residents who did their one month addiction psychiatry rotation at Rushford Center where he is the site director. During the PGY! Addiction Psychiatry rotation the residents present at Grand Rounds using a slide presentation illustrating addiction and its interface with psychiatry. Dr. Silverman brought this to the CTSAM Executive Committee when he was treasurer of CTSAM and the organization quickly expanded the concept to all the residents and fellows in every specialty in training in the region. Dr. Silverman is now President of CTSAM, and Rushford has since become a site for the ABAM Fellowship in Addiction Medicine.

The Connecticut State Medical Society also became involved and helped organize the program through their Committee on Addiction Medicine. In 2012, there were two entrants; in 2013 there were three entrants; in 2014 there were seven; and this year there were eleven entrants covering a broad range of topics.

If participants are selected for the finals, each resident (or team) presents their slideshow to an audience which includes members of ASAM, members of the Connecticut State Medical Society and distinguished guests who vote on the winner. The winning presentation receives $1000, second place receives $500 and third place receives $250.

Dr. Silverman has had other chapters express interest in the idea and hopes that this competition will raise awareness of ASAM, its mission, and addiction medicine in general. There will be a session in early September at the Cape Cod Symposium on Addictive Disorders that will discuss the project and process. The Cape Cod Symposium is sponsored by C4 Recovery and the New England Chapters of ASAM.