Federal Directors' Conference
The Federal Directors' Conference - Association of Leading Doctors of the Clinics for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (BDK) eV is an association of the responsible heads of a specialist hospital or a specialist department for psychiatry and psychotherapy in the form of a registered association recognized as a non-profit. It is led by a nine-member board. The current chairman is Thomas Pollmächer (Medical Director at the Ingolstadt Clinic).
The goals of the BDK include a. the representation of the medical management towards the hospital owners and politics, the improvement of the psychiatric hospital care, the professional development of the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy and the improvement of the care of the mentally ill. The BDK works with the psychiatry associations Aktion Psychisch Kranke APK, the working groups of child and adolescent psychiatrists and the heads of psychiatric departments at general hospitals, the German Society for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology (DGPPN), the German Society for Social Psychiatry (DGSP) , the Federal Working Group of Psychiatric Hospitals, representatives of the administration and care as well as friendly associations of neighboring countries.
Meetings take place every six months at the clinic locations. Members can become head physicians of psychiatric clinics. In addition to a rotating board of directors, there are spokespersons for working groups. The following working groups currently exist (which also clarifies the range of topics dealt with):
- Biological psychiatry
- Chronically ill
- Documentation and quality assurance
- it
- forensic science
- research
- Migration and Psychiatry
- Sociotherapy
- Addiction
- Inpatient psychotherapy
- Mental disability
- Gerontopsychiatry
- Institute outpatient departments
- Hospital issues
The BDK publishes a series of publications at irregular intervals.