Your Tech Questions to Be Answered

APA’s 2013 annual meeting is being held in San Francisco from May 18 to 22—just a few days away! Many consider the Northern California area to be the birthplace of the technology industry, which first started with the large number of silicon chip companies in the Santa Clara Valley. It is very appropriate then that at this year’s annual meeting, a number of technology-focused workshops and courses are available to increase your knowledge and enhance your technical skills. I would like to highlight these activities to facilitate your ability to become a credentialed “geek.” (Check your program guide for locations.)

Symposium 1Blogs, Tweets, Texts, and Friends: Professionalism and the Internet (9 a.m.-noon) This symposium is sponsored by the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training. Presenters will cover liability and conflict of interest online, academic honesty, privacy/confidentiality, mandated reporting and safety on the Web, and the redefinition of the “psychiatric” frame with the multitudes of connections that the Internet provides.

Symposium 9Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Care in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (9 a.m.-noon) Josef Ruzek, M.D., will review mobile apps in the delivery of psychotherapy for treatment of PTSD. I should have known that “there is an app for that”!

American Association for Technology in Psychiatry(http://www.techpsych.org)(11 a.m.-1 p.m.)AATP, an APA allied organization, holds its annual meeting at APA as many of its members are presenters in the sessions listed in this article. The developers of Prezi, alternative presentation software to PowerPoint, will be on hand to discuss the future of presentations. In addition, the founder of Mevoked will review its software tool that helps determine the emotional state of users based on their browsing patterns and content consumed.

Workshop 39Establishing Telepsychiatry and Telepsychotherapy Services for Nursing Home Residents: A Beacon Program(12:30 p.m.-2 p.m.)How to develop a telepsychiatry service to provide care in the nursing home is the focus of this workshop. The goals of the program are to use information technology to improve quality of population care and reduce cost of care.

Workshop 45What Are People Saying About You Online? Your E-Reputation and What You Can Do About It (12:30 p.m.-2 p.m.)What do patients say about you online? This workshop will help you learn what information is readily available on the Internet that impacts your privacy and professional reputation. The faculty will discuss ethics of certain behaviors as well as techniques to manage your e-reputation.

Scientific and Clinical Reports 11 The Internet and Electronic Communication (2:30 p.m.-4 p.m.)This session will review suicide assessment using online social media and discuss how to implement an electronic health record in an outpatient setting. The impact of electronic health records as well as a Web-based shared decision-making tool will also be covered.

Course 10Exploring Technologies in Psychiatry (9 a.m.-noon) This perennial course covers the gamut of technology use in psychiatric practice. It will review everything andanything, from hardware devices to software services, social media to encryption technology, and maintaining your privacy in the sea of Internet information.

Symposium 59Comorbidity, Mechanism of Treatment Resistance, and Novel Treatment Development for Late-Life Depression (9 a.m.-noon)Sarah Morimoto, Psy.D., will discuss use of computerized cognitive remediation in geriatric depression. Who knew that your grandmother’s mood could really benefit from using a Gameboy!

Workshop 80Social Media and the Internet: New Challenges to Boundaries in Psychiatry(1:30 p.m.-3 p.m.) Paul Appelbaum, M.D., will discuss the ramifications of “friending” your patients, as well as how “texting” and “tweeting” impact patient care. Its singular focus on social media is sure to draw a crowd.

Course 36Brain Stimulation in Psychiatry(9 a.m.-noon) This course reviews various brain stimulation techniques and their treatment implications. Attendees will get a review of neuroanatomy as well as principles of electrical neuromodulation. Topics include vagus nerve stimulation therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and deep brain stimulation.

Symposium 91Getting Started with Electronic Health Records in your Practice(9 a.m.–noon) The APA Committee on Electronic Health Records will review the major issues regarding EHRs. Privacy, data sharing, usability, benefits, and meaningful use are just a few of the topics this group will discuss. More importantly, they will teach you how to select and implement the EHR that you choose.

Lecture 26Are Digital Technologies Impacting on Wellness of the Young Mind?(11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) The child psychiatrists at the annual meeting should definitely attend this lecture. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends less than two hours a day of media exposure. Baroness Susan Greenfield, D.Phil., M.A., will hopefully answer the question whether your child should have an iPad!

Workshop 119Improving Clinical Efficiency With Do-It-Yourself Intranet Web Browser Applications(3:30 p.m.-5 p.m.) David Gotlib, M.D., has demonstrated how to create an Intranet-based electronic whiteboard for tracking patients in the emergency department—http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49189/e-whiteboard/index.html, described in an article in Psychiatric Services. This workshop will help even technology novices develop their own system.

Symposium 129First Steps in Helping Patients With First-Episode Psychosis(9 a.m.-noon) The use of mobile devices to increase care delivery will be covered by Trishan Panch, M.B.B.S., M.P.H.

Workshop 153E-Psychiatry: How Innovative Web Sites Reach Diverse Populations(1:30 p.m.-3 p.m.) Strategies on how to create an effective Web site will be covered. In particular, diverse populations often have specific needs that make access and finding sites and a challenge. The workshop presenters have solved this mystery.

While the release of DSM-5 is at the forefront of the meeting, there are a significant number of excellent sessions on information technology. It would be a shame to be next door to Silicon Valley and not partake in these technology offerings. I hope to see you there! ■