Association of Women Psychiatrists

APA Election

AWP: What have you done to advance women’s involvement in organized psychiatry and specifically in the APA?  Please tell us your specific accomplishments. 

 Sharfstein:  I have especially encouraged our women trainees to be active in the Maryland Psychiatric Society. The immediate past and current president of the Maryland Psychiatric Society are former residents of Sheppard Pratt and supervisees of mine. Other clinicians with my strong encouragement have been active in the local district branch. One example is my colleague and collaborator on psychiatric economic issues, Anne Stoline, who for a number of years was quite active on women's and managed care issues in the Maryland Psychiatric Society. I've been strongly supportive of women colleagues who are now leaders throughout the APA in various councils and components over the 25 years of participation in APA activities.

AWP:  What important issues for women would you promote?  How would you do this?

Sharfstein:   The theme of my campaign is access to quality treatment. Although the theme may be gender blind in many respects, it does imply sensitivity to important issues for women who come to treatment. These issues include reproductive choice, equal opportunity in the workplace, and adequate third party payment coverage for necessary treatment. For many women who do not have discretionary income to pay for care out-of-pocket, this insurance issue is part of the advocacy for parity. Parity isn't enough, however. You must have nondiscriminatory utilization review; that is, managed care on the same basis for all medical disorders or we will continue to suffer from arbitrary restrictions for care that makes such an important difference in the quality of women's lives.

AWP:  What strategies would you use to promote the retention and recruitment of women in APA?

Sharfstein:  Visible women in top leadership positions at APA and local district branches are critical for women psychiatrists to identify with our organization. The value of APA, however, lies mostly in the issues that we effectively promote, such as access to quality treatment. Special attention to the needs of young career psychiatrists, many of whom are women, the starting up of a practice, the working out of multiple roles in work and family - all are relevant to the recruitment and retention of women psychiatrists. In the not too distant future, women will, in fact, be the majority of American psychiatrists and hopefully of the APA. If the APA is to survive, it must be the most valuable organization to psychiatrists to join and participate. 

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Frances Bell
info@womenpsych.org
http://www.womenpsych.org/new.html
Last updated March 29, 2006 08:07 PM

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