In an exclusive interview, Psychiatry Times To Dr. David W. Goodman, First U.S. adult ADHD guidelines and APSARD’s role in this groundbreaking initiative. Mr. Goodman will host a town hall discussion on adult ADHD guidelines at an upcoming event. APSARD 2024 Conference.
“I’m Dr. David Goodman. I’m an adult psychiatrist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Medicine. I’m also a clinical associate professor at the State University of New York upstate in Syracuse.
“I’m here today to tell you about a very exciting project that is being done for the first time in the United States, and that is the development and eventual publication of the first U.S. guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in adults. It is related to
“Why is this so important? Well, unlike the guidelines for children and adolescents, there are no guidelines for adults with ADHD. International guidelines are currently being developed in Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom. This The United States has been slow to address this issue because it is a difficult, scientific endeavor that requires many experts. APSARD, the American Professional Society for ADHD and Related Disorders, took on this initiative. We have been in development for the past year. Setting up a task force requires a thorough review of everyone’s conflicts of interest, but we are working with experts and clinical experts from Japan and abroad who have been involved in adult ADHD for many years. This is no easy task considering that we are targeting doctors and researchers for several decades.
“We have embarked on this process and are currently forming a group of task forces that will look at the process of developing these guidelines. They have gone through conflict of interest scrutiny and are actually quite advanced and are currently in the voting process. We have created guidelines, which can be found here. The method used to create guidelines is to use repeated voting to reach a consensus.
“It is important to understand the difference between a clinical practice guideline and an expert consensus. Expert consensus is when a group of experts come together, interact and reach a consensus based on clinical expertise and anecdotal information. Yes, this is the expert consensus.
“However, medical practice guidelines involve a more rigorous process, which includes not only a collection of experts vetted for conflicts of interest, but also a comprehensive review of all the scientific research available worldwide on adults. It also includes a comprehensive literature review of ADHD. Then we sit down and list the clinical guidelines.
“So what are clinical guidelines? Clinical guidelines are specific clinical actions that clinicians take when diagnosing and treating patients. For example, before taking medication for ADHD, blood pressure and pulse We recommend measuring and then adjusting. This is an example of a specific clinical practice guideline, so there is a long list that includes categories for diagnosis, evaluation, non-drug therapy, and drug therapy.
“Who does this affect? Why do we have to go through such a cumbersome and rigorous process here? Well, it affects a lot of people. First, what is adult ADHD in the United States? We aim to standardize patient care. We want to help clinicians quickly understand clinical practice guidelines and clinical practices for patient care. We want to help patients, their families, and the general public understand clinical practice guidelines and clinical practices for patient care. This will also give you a basic guide to what to expect when receiving diagnosis and treatment.
“It will also have an impact on policy makers. We hope that these guidelines will encourage policy makers to reconsider the importance of adult ADHD and the impact it has on society, not just parents and families. Untreated ADHD in adults creates an economic burden.
“Education will also be affected. Believe it or not, until now there has been little formal focus on training programs, psychology programs, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nursing, etc.” We want to encourage professional training programs to add adult ADHD to their curricula, and this guideline will encourage educational curricula to add a focus here. I believe that.
“And this gives us a lot of stakeholders. This is going to have a huge impact on patient care, insurance coverage, and insurance policy decisions.
“I am very pleased that you took the time to listen to my story. This is the most important initiative APSARD has undertaken and I hope it will contribute to a major shift in focus on adult ADHD. ”
