Audrina Mooth, D.O., second-year resident at East Pierce Family Medicine, has many qualities that fit the criteria for an outstanding family doctor. It’s possible one of her most noticeable qualities is the compassion and empathy she has for her patients. When she found herself with some unexpected “downtime” during one of her rotations, she received an email announcing an essay contest for the Center for the History of Family Medicine.
What was the prompt for the essay? Write about any historical subject related to family medicine in the United States. Mooth knew exactly what she wanted to write about, and she began typing out her essay, Family Physicians and the Humanizing of Opioid Use Disorder Management.
The essay opens with Mooth’s firsthand encounter with a patient during a prenatal appointment at the outpatient Substance Treatment and Recovery Training (START) clinic. When they began going through the routine questions during her visit, the patient became “guarded,” as she had been visiting a methadone clinic daily. It was apparent she had something she wanted to share with Mooth and her care team.
Mooth’s patient confided in her care team that she had been using fentanyl again, but this time it wasn’t because she was craving it, but because her fear of experiencing withdrawal crept back into her mind.
The concerns that Mooth’s patient had were all too real—she did not want her unborn child or her other child at home to be removed from her care because of her Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). Mooth’s essay outlines the stigma surrounding people with OUD, and how family physicians can, and should, continue to grow as a specialty to incorporate addiction medicine into their practice.
“Dr. Mooth’s essay highlights family medicine’s role in the opioid crisis and will provide historical significance of a national problem for the specialty in the years to come,” said Renee Markovich, MD, 2022 Board of Curators Convener.
Mooth knows that treating people with substance use disorders (SUDs) can be met with a lot of resistance.
“It’s easy to vilify individuals with substance use disorders,” Mooth said, “but in our clinic, these pregnant mothers come in because they care about their babies, and they want to raise a healthy child.”
Through her work at the START clinic, she has been able to find ways in which she can incorporate her experience into her own family medicine practice. Whether she is running behind in the clinic or rushing to see her next patient, Mooth said she reminds herself to step back and recognize the humanity in each person.
“I love finding how I can help someone within the framework of their life,” Mooth said. “Rather than asking a lot of questions, I let patients talk. They’re better at telling their story than I am at creating their story with a list of questions. I have to check myself at the door with each patient I encounter—this is a person, not a chart.”
Mooth added that she wanted to be certain she recognized Abigail Plawman, MD, and the faculty at East Pierce Family Medicine for their insight and guidance on writing the essay on not only a sensitive matter, but on a patient she cares about deeply.
As author of the winning essay, Mooth received a $1,000 prize. The second-place winner, Jonothon Segars, D.O., a second-year resident, received a $500 award for his essay on practicing family medicine in the south.
To read Audriana Mooth’s entire essay, click below.