The Medical Psychiatry Alliance: a unique partnership to improve patient care
"Our health care system is currently designed to focus on either mental illness or physical illness – but not both at the same time,” says Dr. Jay Rosenfield, Vice Dean, MD Program. The Medical Psychiatry Alliance (MPA), the first initiative of its kind in Canada, was created to improve outcomes for patients with both mental and physical illnesses. The MPA is a collaborative partnership between the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Trillium Health Partners and U of T. It was established in January 2014 thanks to a $60 million grant, with $20 million from an anonymous lead donor, a commitment of $20 million from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and a commitment of $20 million from the four founding MPA institutions.
“Fostering an approach that provides holistic and seamlessly integrated care for such patients begins with the education of our next generation of doctors,” notes Rosenfield. “This approach must be evident from our students’ first core lectures, and interwoven throughout the curriculum.”
In October 2015, U of T hosted the second annual MPA conference . Conference participants included multiple stakeholders across the continuum of patient care. The focus of the conference was the transformation of our current education models to ensure we are training our current and future doctors to provide integrated care as part of coordinated interprofessional teams, which will help improve outcomes for patients with both mental and physical illnesses.
After establishing a roadmap at the conference, an MPA/UME committee was struck to provide leadership and support for the implementation of the MPA curriculum into the MD Program.
As a result, several initiatives are already underway to integrate and expand MPA curriculum initiatives, including expansion of the Make Every Encounter Therapeutic (MEET) elective, and the Getting to Know Patients’ System of Care (GPS Care) experience, which was piloted with 20 students in the 2015-2016 academic year. “In this experience, students role-play to gain an understanding of what it’s like to be a patient with physical and mental health concerns in a complex medical system,” explains Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam, Director of Curriculum Renewal, MPA. This one-day experience will be a part of the new Foundations Curriculum for all first- and second-years students.
“To ensure our faculty have a strong understanding of the importance of a collaborative approach to integrated mental and physical health, we are providing tools and resources to foster the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes throughout medical education,” says Dr. Sockalingam. The MPA Symposium on UME Medical Psychiatry Training was held in February 2016 and the MPA Primary Care Education Day was hosted jointly with Trillium Health Partners in March 2016 to engage faculty and provide professional development in this area.
How is the MPA transforming medical education? See the following video:
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