Month: October 2019

Spotlight: Barbara Harrison

Barbara Harrison has worked in the UNMC Department of Psychiatry for the last 23 years. Along with her role as a medical scheduler, she also helps organize the annual July picnic and the fall event at Vala’s Pumpkin Patch. What is your role in the Department of Psychiatry? My title/job is Medical scheduler. When I […]

Oct 31, 2019

Emerson co-authors article on eliminating waiting lists

Maggie Emerson, Advanced Practice Practitioners (APPs) Lead for the Department of Psychiatry, co-authored a journal entry on “How a Health Center Eliminated the Waiting List for Psychiatric Services.” Emerson wrote the article with Shannon Kinnan, M.D., John Kern, M.D., and Anna Ratzliff, M.D. The article appears on Psychiatryonline.com. “Improving access to psychiatric care is a […]

Oct 28, 2019

Psychiatry Department receives high marks from Joint Commission

On Oct. 11, Nebraska Medicine, including the Department of Psychiatry, earned Behavioral Health Care Accreditation from the Joint Commission. On Aug. 14, members of the Joint Commission visited the Department of Psychiatry, and a site visitor conducted a detailed review of five cases encompassing the Intensive Outpatient Program and Poynter Hall.  In addition, the visitor […]

Oct 28, 2019

Fighting stigma and building a career treating substance use disorders

When Alëna A. Balasanova, M.D., began her psychiatry residency at Boston University, she encountered patients with SUD the way all too many people do—with judgment: “I wanted to treat patients with depression and anxiety—I didn’t sign up to treat people with a drug addiction, I held some very stigmatizing beliefs.” Over the course of her […]

Oct 10, 2019