Psychiatrists on the PRMS Blog

Trying to predict the future is probably not the most productive use of anyone’s time, but it’s fun sometimes to think about what the world will be like in 10, or 20, or 30 years. When you speculate about the future, it’s a good idea to keep in mind Bill Gates’ comment about human predictions: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underest ...

Several months ago, I read the widely reported case of the French psychiatrist who received a suspended one-year prison sentence after one of her patients had committed murder.  In the popular press, few details beyond that were included. Since we focus on psychiatry in the US, I didn’t make a point to follow up on the case. I do remember thinking, however, that despite the Tar ...

It always pays to be skeptical of anything you read with a publication date of April 1. Most newspapers, and even a few scholarly journals, try to slip an April Fool’s article past their readers. Thus, I was leery of a Medscape Medical News article, datelined April 1, 2013, entitled “Psychiatrist Burnout Less Than Most Other Physicians’.” My skepticism, however, was misplaced – ...

You probably already knew that, but now there’s new confirmation. I’m referring to the Medscape 2013 Ethics Report, Ethics in Medicine – What Makes Psychiatrists Unique? (free site registration required), published March 13, 2013. Of the 24,000 physicians who participated in the survey, 1600 were psychiatrists. The report notes that the psychiatrists’ answers to eight questions ...

Right after Labor Day each year, “meeting season” starts. From early September through mid-November, it seems every psychiatric organization holds a meeting; our goal is to attend as many of them as possible. In the past nine weeks, PRMS staff attended more than 50 meetings throughout the country.  These included APA district branch meetings, US Psychiatric Congress, Northern C ...

No one is more pleasantly surprised than I am to see that a number of you have become regular readers of this blog. Up to this point, we at PRMS have chosen the topic of each post, based largely on what we think you may be interested in reading about.  We would, however, like to hear from you. What do you want us to write about?   Please send us your questions.  You can email m ...

A guest blog by Remy Palumbo, Senior Underwriter Many of us have a tendency to purchase insurance and then set aside our policy hoping to never need it.  Of course sometimes “life happens” and as a result, there are times when you’ll want to provide the underwriter of your medical professional liability insurance carrier with updates.  A few of these include: 1) When your maili ...

PRMS staff spend a lot of time on the road, traveling to meet and talk with our customers, and prospective customers, wherever they may be.  In the past year, we’ve attended more than 20 psychiatric-specific meetings including: – APA district branch meetings – APA Annual Meeting – US Psychiatric Congress, – American Society of Addiction Medicine, – American Association for Ger ...