Career Development Member Resources-Advocating on Behalf of Your Patients

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The session opened ACAM’s Career Development Series, with Dr. Claudia Moore introducing the program and Dr. Sarah Wakeman presenting on patient advocacy. Dr. Wakeman framed advocacy as a core part of physician identity, especially in addiction medicine, where clinicians regularly witness stigma, inequity, and system failures that harm patients.<br /><br />She defined advocacy broadly as speaking or acting on behalf of others to promote social, economic, educational, or political change. She contrasted advocacy with activism, while noting they can overlap. A major theme was that advocacy can reduce moral distress and build moral resilience by turning frustration with broken systems into meaningful action.<br /><br />Dr. Wakeman highlighted how addiction care has long been shaped by stigma, racism, criminalization, and misconceptions that substance use disorder is a moral failing rather than a treatable illness. She described common examples of stigma in health care and policy, including denial of skilled nursing facility placement for patients on buprenorphine or methadone, punitive reporting of pregnant patients receiving evidence-based treatment, and criminal penalties tied to relapse.<br /><br />She outlined many forms of advocacy: direct patient advocacy, system-level policy change, writing, public speaking, social media, legislative testimony, coalition work, and participation in professional societies. She also emphasized the importance of language, kindness, low-threshold care, and using science and patient stories together to change minds.<br /><br />In sharing her own career journey, she described how mentors, research, and clinical experience led her into addiction medicine and systems-building at Mass General, including addiction consult services and bridge clinics.<br /><br />During discussion, she advised attendees to start with the most harmful policies, assume good intent, compare policies across health conditions to reveal discrimination, and use motivational interviewing principles when persuading stakeholders.

Keywords

patient advocacy

addiction medicine

stigma reduction

moral resilience

healthcare inequity

policy change

buprenorphine

methadone

low-threshold care

motivational interviewing