By The Star Staff
With the participation of prominent psychiatrists from Puerto Rico, the San Juan Capistrano Hospital System held the 2024 Annual Psychiatrists Convention over the weekend, which included a day dedicated to continuing education and knowledge sharing on current challenges in the field of mental health.
“This event showcased the advances and innovations in psychiatry and mental health in modern times,” said Marta Rivera, executive director of the San Juan Capestrano Hospital System. “The activity brought together a very diverse and committed community of mental health professionals from Puerto Rico, all of them focused on education, advances in medical research, new technologies, therapies and clinical approaches that are transforming medical psychiatric practice on the island. Among the highlights of the convention were topics such as: adequate pharmacological management of breastfeeding mothers, best practices and treatments for patients with opioid abuse, and the transition of a person with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from adolescence to adulthood.”
Dr. Dessie Vega, the faculty president at San Juan Capestrano Hospital, noted that the event “has not only been an opportunity to learn and grow professionally, but also to strengthen ties within our community and foster excellence in psychiatric care.”
“We had the opportunity to participate in educational sessions taught by nationally and internationally recognized Puerto Rican psychiatrists and collaborate with colleagues to exchange ideas and best practices, and address common challenges in mental health care,” she said. “Attendees at the convention discussed broad topics about treatments such as electroconvulsive therapies (ECT) as a safe and effective method for mental health patients.”
As part of the convention’s schedule of activities, the well-known psychiatrist Dr. Lelis Nazario Rodríguez, director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Program of the Medical Sciences Campus at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, offered a workshop that provided practical tools for the identification, prevention and management of the symptoms of “burnout” (also known as Burnout Syndrome), and how doctors and health professionals can overcome it.
Leading psychiatrist Arnaldo Cruz Igartúa gave a keynote lecture on comorbid mental disorders with the addition of controlled substances, many of them consumed and acquired illegally.
In addition to the conferences and workshops offered, the convention served as a networking event where psychiatrists shared their performance experiences, which marked an advance in communication for these mental health professionals in Puerto Rico.