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AREA IX ACTIVITIES
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Summer 2002 AAAP News Column Does access to subspecialty certification in Addiction Psychiatry within the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology need to be more open to individuals who have completed their training? Currently, to sit for the subspecialty examination, Diplomates of the American Board must have successfully completed one year of ACGME-approved residency training in addiction psychiatry after completing their four-year psychiatry and neurology residency training. Over the long-term, this policy will hopefully increase the prominence of addiction psychiatry as a subspecialty. Unfortunately, in the meantime it prevents psychiatrists who are already treating patients with addictions from seeking a subspecialty designation, as they would have to leave their practices to enter a full-time residency program. As a result, membership in the Academy may suffer until many more psychiatrists-in-training have completed their addiction psychiatry training. In the meantime, greater flexibility for access to the subspecialty exam could help increase the International and American membership in the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and the prominence of the subspecialty of addiction psychiatry on the whole. Some upcoming International events involving AAAP members include: The 4th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Addiction Medicine, October 2-5, 2002, Reykjavik, Iceland. The 52nd Annual Meeting of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, October 31-November 3, 2002, Banff, Alberta, Canada. Editor’s Note: The AAAP Past Presidents’ Council has been charged with looking into the addiction psychiatry subspecialty certification process.
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