CHFM announces student and resident essay contest winners

The Center for the History of Family Medicine (CHFM) at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Foundation has named Audriana Mooth, D.O., a second year resident at East Pierce Family Medicine, as the winner of its essay contest for medical students and residents. Mooth’s essay, Family Physicians and the Humanizing of Opioid Use Disorder Management, provides an insightful and raw look into the stark reality of the opioid crisis in our nation.

The essay opens with a first-hand encounter Mooth experienced with a patient during her prenatal appointment at East Pierce Family Medicine in the outpatient Substance Treatment and Recovery Training (START) clinic. When they began going through the routine questions during her visit, the patient became nervous and “guarded.” She had been visiting a methadone clinic daily for her normal dose, but it was apparent she had something she wanted to share with Mooth and her care team.

“She’s been using fentanyl again,” Mooth said. “She doesn’t know why because she’s not craving it like she used to, but every time she tries to cut back she feels the panic of withdrawal creeping up on her.”

The fears and worries 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 continued to outline the stigmas surrounding people with OUD, and how family physicians can continue to grow as a specialty and 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.

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.