April was a busy month! Several of our staff attended the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and Federation of State Physician Health Program Annual Meetings, held in Charlotte, NC. We are proud to have shared our research at each of the meetings.

Dr. Michael Williams accompanied Anna Stumps and Dillon Welindt to the FSMB Annual Meeting where they presented three posters. Dillon and Anna are both doing gap years. The samples for all three posters were doctors who were referred secondary to concerns about professional behavior. These included difficulties with disruptive behavior, poor interpersonal or communication skills, boundary issues, and/or concerns about sexual harassment/sexual misconduct.

The first poster explored patterns of underreporting on the ACE instrument. We analyzed the differences between self-report scores on the ACE and clinically derived ACE scores based on psychosocial developmental clinical interviews. Our findings indicated significant differences between self-report and clinical interview scores. Based on our findings, we urge caution in interpreting results on the ACE in this population. These data support the extant literature indicating that individuals referred for fitness-for-duty are likely to present in an overly positive light.

The second poster explored the degree of concordance between our provisional medical diagnoses made based on neuropsychological test results, with those that occurred post medical follow up for the identified condition. Results suggest a high degree of concordance between provisional medical diagnosis and medically confirmed diagnosis. The most common diagnosis was sleep apnea.

In the third poster we compared performance on neuropsychological testing pre- and post- medical/psychiatric intervention. We found an overall improvement in neuropsychological performance post intervention. Overall the results continue to underscore the importance of wellbeing in remediation.

We appreciate the interest from the FSMB, and would like to thank them for their hospitality!