March 19, 1999

APA's 1998 Institute on Psychiatric Services demonstrates that small can be good.

Held in a more intimate setting that encourages much interaction between faculty and participants and permits all sessions to be held at one location, the Institute on Psychiatric Services (IPS) again received high grades from attendees, according to an evaluation report prepared by Kathleen Debenham, M.A., administrator of continuing education and evaluation in APA's Office of Education. The institute was held October 2 to 6 in Los Angeles.

Respondents agreed in significant numbers on evaluation forms filled out on site that the sessions were of excellent quality, met their educational objectives, and provided information to improve professional effectiveness. Almost 70 percent indicated that they planned to attend next year's institute, which is being held October 29 to November 2 in New Orleans.

The survey results indicated that the institute is meeting its objective of providing clinically useful information. In response to suggestions from participants at the 1997 institute, this year's program included more information on clinical applications of the material presented, and the theme of the meeting was "Clinical Advances and Research and Educational Excellence." About 98 percent of the respondents indicated that they had attended the meeting to learn about clinical issues.

The number of industry-supported symposia (ISS) was increased from 14 in 1997 to 16 this year, incorporating breakfast, lunch, and dinner sessions. The industry-supported symposia continue to be one of the most popular and highly rated formats at the institute, said Debenham. More than 90 percent of the respondents agreed that presenters were effective, the quality of the sessions was excellent, and the presenters covered multiple viewpoints. The Scientific Program Committee had initiated several new monitoring mechanisms for these symposia to ensure compliance with all ACCME commercial support requirements, and these mechanisms appeared to be successful. For the first time at an institute, psychiatry residents served as monitors at every ISS session. Each resident completed a report to confirm the session's compliance with ACCME requirements, such as disclosure of any significant relationship between speakers and commercial entities and disclosure of discussion of off-label or investigational use of products.

Attendance at the 1998 institute was 1,496, down from last year's record attendance of about 2,000. The institute's Scientific Program Committee attributed the drop to the West Coast location, which posed a long and expensive trip from the East Coast, where much of the APA membership resides. However, a higher percentage of attendees were APA members-58 percent as compared with 56 percent at last year's institute.

In putting together the 1998 program, the Scientific Program Committee, chaired by Tana A. Grady-Weliky, M.D., responded to suggestions from participants at the 1997 institute. In addition to placing greater emphasis on clinical applications of material presented at the institute, the committee expanded media/computer activities, ensured greater diversity among the meeting faculty, continued the "Innovative Program" format (which provides overviews of noteworthy and effective program interventions), and introduced a new format, Medical Updates. The Local Arrangements Committee, chaired by Marc Graff, M.D., contributed significantly to the meeting, both through recruitment of speakers for the Medical Updates sessions and by attracting California psychiatrists to the meeting in large numbers (30 percent of the registrants were from California).

A variety of strategies were implemented at the 1998 institute to expand collection of evaluation data for planning future meetings. These efforts appeared to pay off, since 428 people completed the general evaluation form for a record response rate of 38 percent .

Because registrants indicated that they valued the institute's small size and clinical focus, the evaluation report recommends that these central features be maintained at future institutes. Moreover, the report suggests that the number of sessions on psychotherapy and child and adolescent issues be expanded and the new Medical Updates format be retained.

The report also recommends expanding outreach to psychiatry residents to increase their attendance at the institute. The institute has long been thought an ideal meeting for residents due to the meeting's intimate size and opportunities for them to be presenters.-C.F.B.

What Did Registrants Say About the Institute?

These were among the comments that registrants wrote on the evaluation forms for APA's 1998 Institute on Psychiatric Services:

• This is my favorite meeting for convenience, good quality, consistently useful clinical information, and social aspects of meeting colleagues.



• Overall an excellent meeting-presentations were clear, handouts excellent and useful.



• As usual, an excellent conference with a low-key atmosphere.



• It was useful to hear what the different states are doing and how they manage to influence public policy.



• I think a slightly greater number of programs should be offered at any one time.



• This is the first time I have been to this meeting. It is good, as it is small, and you get a chance to spend more time with fewer people. The disadvantage is there are fewer pharmaceutical company activities.