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Welcome to my blog, a place to explore and learn about the experience of running a psychiatric practice. I post about things that I find useful to know or think about. So, enjoy, and let me know what you think.


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

A Monkey's Uncle

I had a hard time naming this post. Everything I thought of had some kind of expletive in it.

Holy ____! 

____ me dead! 

l'll be ____!


I'm not averse to this kind of language in my speech, but I try to keep it out of my writing unless there's a good reason for it. Like if I'm quoting someone. Or if I'm writing about having witnessed a potted tulip fall from space and say, "Not again!"**

Suffice it to say, I'm surprised. I got a response today from the ABPN about my proposed PIP Clinical Module on the "Suitability for Psychoanalysis". Here it is:

Thank you for submitting an individual PIP for preapproval consideration.

Your PIP Clinical Module on the ‘Suitability for Psychoanalysis’ has been preapproved, provided you use your own patient charts/data for the initial and follow-up reassessment.  The patients that you use for the reassessment can be the same or different patients from the initial assessment.  This module will count for the PIP Unit that you need for your 2016-2018 CMOC block.

Please retain this preapproval in the event of an audit.

Let me know if you have any other questions.


I did have questions, so I responded:

Thank you for your prompt response. I will certainly use my own patient charts and data.

I have 2 questions:

1. Does "preapproved" mean it's approved, or is there something else that has to happen?

2. Are others allowed to use this module for their own patients?

Thank you for your attention to this matter.


I just sent off my response, so I don't know what will come of it. I'm a little worried that it's too good to be true, and I should have left well enough alone and not asked my questions because now they'll change their minds. But I'd like for other people to be able to use the module, and I wasn't sure if, "provided you use your own patient charts/data for the initial and follow-up reassessment," means that for some reason, they thought I would use someone else's patients' data, or if it's only approved for my use. Maybe that's what "preapproved" means.

So for now, Odds Bodikens!, Zounds! Holy Mackerel! I'll eat my hat!, and I'm a Mongoose! And remember, if I can make up a PIP Module that gets "preapproved", anyone can.

Addendum: 

Wow! While I was previewing this post, a response from ABPN came in:

1.        Preapproval means that your PIP meets the criteria, although you are still subject to auditing.

2.       Preapprovals are done on an individual basis; but, yes, if you’d like to share your outline with colleagues, they could submit it for preapproval as well.


So I guess anyone can use it, provided he or she submits it for preapproval. Here's a link to it in pdf form. I hope it's helpful.

Addendum #2: If you happened to download the pdf before 11.17.15 4:55pm Eastern time, please disregard it and use the currently linked form, which includes the practice guideline source.

**“Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now.”― Douglas AdamsThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy