During my 6 month ACT/public psychiatry rotation in residency, I had a patient go to jail. Our ACT team continues to visit and support patients in prison. I managed to get my very sick patient to medical and surgical appointments /1 https://twitter.com/andrewmklee_/status/1302326214271684614

By repeatedly calling and essentially hounding the prison to make sure they took them to their appointments. My patient’s mental illness was so severe that they weren’t attending to their medical needs and I saw an opportunity to pressure /2

The prison medical staff. I contacted all my patient’s relevant outpatient clinics and booked their appointments and then called the prison to explain how important it was for them to take my patient to them. To my surprise, it worked. /3

When I reviewed the specialist’s progress notes, I was stunned to read that “their medical exam was limited due to the patient being handcuffed to the bed.” My blood boiled. Heaven forbid the prison guards uncuff them for a few minutes for medical assessment. /4

This experience had a significant impact on me as a resident. It motivated me more than ever to advocate at the patient level, get involved in social justice/prison abolition work, educate myself on prison abolition and to donate to advocacy groups like @NationalBailOut /5

Perhaps one way to get in-class or clinical experience with patients who were formerly or presently incarcerated, I’d recommend an ACT psych elective. (Maybe even with me ) @Andrewmklee_ /END