Psychiatric News January 4, 2002
Volume 37 Number 1
© 2002 American Psychiatric Association
p. 12
Too Few Psychiatrists Are Signing Up, DB Leaders Say
Ken Hausman
The presidents-elect of two APA district branches tell the Board of Trustees what’s on their members’ minds.
At their December meeting in Washington, D.C., the members of the APA Board of Trustees heard two invited guests—the presidents-elect of the Bronx and Indiana district branches—explain several of the concerns with which their members are wrestling.
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Bronx District Branch President-elect Seshagiri Rao Doddi, M.D. (left), describes for the Board of Trustees the problems his district branch has in attracting new members and retaining current ones. Listening to Doddi is Steve Nelson, M.D., president-elect of the Indiana Psychiatric Society.
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Seshagiri Rao Doddi, M.D., representing the Bronx District Branch, focused on membership issues. He explained that the biggest challenges facing him and other leaders of his district branch are how to attract new members and convince current members to continue belonging.
"We are trying enthusiasm and involvement," he pointed out, though the battle is often uphill. Out of nearly 200 members, he said, only about 30 psychiatrists regularly show up for district branch meetings.
He said that nonmembers claim that "dues are too high," but Doddi wondered if this was "an excuse for other reasons" that keep them from signing up.
Doddi urged the Board to search for ways to decrease spending, including simplifying the APA structure by, for example, abolishing Area Councils and having fewer district branches. With spending reduced, he suggested, APA might be able to continue its five-year moratorium on dues increases or even reduce dues.
The Indiana Psychiatric Society was represented by President-elect Steve Nelson, M.D.
He, too, explained the difficulty district branch leaders are having in attracting members to their meetings. To make them appealing, they have the meetings at good restaurants, which require financial support from drug companies, a situation some members find troubling.
He noted as well that Indiana psychiatrists are closely monitoring their legislature to be prepared when, as expected, psychologists get a prescribing-privilege bill introduced.
For the last several years, APA presidents have invited several district branch presidents-elect or leaders of minority/underrepresented groups to Board meetings to keep APA’s elected leaders informed about the issues that are paramount in the minds of psychiatrists who are members of these groups. 
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APA Launches Program To Reduce Employee Stress
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Psychiatr News 2002 37: 1-29.
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