[Maine-NPs] Message for Those Who Attended Dr. Rusk's ADHD workshop @ the MNPA Conference

[miki.macdonald at maine.edu]

Dr. Rusk as that I forward this email on to the group he spoke w/ at  
the Spruce Point Inn Conference.  Even if you didn't make it, there is  
some interesting information.
Miki

----- Forwarded message from tomrusk at adelphia.net -----
     Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 16:08:28 -0400
     From: Tom Rusk <tomrusk at adelphia.net>
Reply-To: Tom Rusk <tomrusk at adelphia.net>
  Subject: Message for Those Who Attended My ADHD workshop Last  
Friday-- If Possible?
       To: miki.macdonald at maine.edu

Miki,

The group who attended the ADHD workshop on Friday afternoon was terrific -
lots of interest and lots of excellent questions and comments throughout. So
much so that I inadvertently omitted going over a small but key section
about two quick but very useful screening tools. One is thoroughly discussed
in the handout and the other is on a sheet that I handed out at the
workshop.  I had hoped to briefly review them.



Is there any way to find out who attended this workshop and forward them
this email?



I wanted them to note that page 12 of the handout is a widely used screening
tool that takes but three to five minutes for a patient to complete. It is
an excellent take off point for exploration of the patient's experience.
The first six items are the most efficient available way to screen for adult
ADHD. Anyone who gets four check marks in the first six item shaded area has
a very high likelihood of ADHD. Not scoring 4/6 does not at all rule out
ADHD however. The other items are mostly useful for history taking of issues
suggestive of ADHD. Pages 13 and 14 discuss in some detail the use of this
screening tool.



The other screening tool is the one I brought along and handed out at the
workshop. It essentially covers all the key criteria from DSM-IV, but puts
into the past tense these criteria in the form of questions and is to be
filled out by someone (if such a someone exists, is available, and is
willing) who is older than the patient and was around during the patient's
childhood prior to age 15 or so, and who was in a position to know their
behavior during those early years. When available, this input can be
extremely valuable in trying to pin down the diagnosis sufficiently to see
whether a trial of medication makes any sense.



Sorry for the inconvenience. If I were to be sent their email or snail mail
addresses I'd be happy to send them the information, but perhaps providing
those to me might not be appropriate. Either way I'd sure appreciate these
folks getting this brief discussion of the screening instruments as I really
had wanted to cover this information and feel derelict in not having done
so.



Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to present my experience
with this condition that is so amenable to helpful intervention.



Tom



Tom Rusk, MD

Senior Psychiatrist

Penobscot Community Health Center

Home Address: 72 Baker Road

Winterport, ME 04496-3810

(207) 223-5171

Fax (207) 223-4994





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