Menu
Brian Braumiller: new psychiatrist at NRMC
Ask a doctor for general advice on how best to care for one's physical health, he or she will likely mention diet and exercise. But how can you be good to yourself mentally?
"Sleep well," said Dr. Brian Braumiller, new psychiatrist at Nevada Regional Medical Center.
"By that I mean get eight hours of good deep sleep; not only does it help your body but it resets the mind," said Braumiller. "Tired people don't cope well but when you're well rested, you are much more resilient and better able to handle whatever comes your way."
At the end of his second week on the job, Dr. Braumiller sat down for an interview, accompanied by Sandy McGatha, program director at New Beginnings, the mental health unit at NRMC.
Braumiller added, "That's one of the first things I do for a lot of my patients: I give them their first good night's rest in awhile and that helps me make a better diagnosis and order the appropriate course of treatment."
Born in Titusville, Fla., one of the towns that boomed as NASA grew in the 1960s, Braumiller's family moved to Dayton, Ohio, which is where the future psychiatrist graduated from high school in 1977.
Graduating from Wright State University, located in a Dayton suburb, Braumiller majored in psychology. He took a job and worked for four years as a psych tech and enjoyed working with adolescents.
The father of a patient was a physician and provided guidance which led to Braumiller attending Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Graduating in 1992, initially he worked as an intensivist, attending the critically ill in an intensive care unit in Akron before spending three years in psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University at the Metrohealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
"Getting into med school is hard enough but being accepted into psychiatry is even harder but they chose me; my internal medicine background didn't hurt," said Braumiller.
The new psychiatrist's first position was at a prison, working with inmates of borderline intelligence.
Braumiller then developed a private practice in Kettering, Ohio, while serving as an attending physician at a hospital in Dayton with additional work in Hamilton through 2007. His work included being medical director of an alcohol and detox unit.
The failing health and subsequent death of his parents, who had retired to Florida, led Braumiller, in 2007, to leave Ohio and return to his native state.
In Florida, the doctor worked more than three years at an inpatient community mental health facility in Melbourne, then similar work in Panama City followed by work with a facility which provided both inpatient and outpatient care.
So what led the good doctor to Missouri?
"A nurse I was seeing, relocated to Farmington, and so I tried to find a position up here," explained Braumiller.
Just as schools have substitute teachers, so medicine has developed a system for supplying temporary physicians while a doctor is on leave or to fill in while a search is conducted for a permanentreplacement.
Called locum tenens, Braumiller became one as he filled in with the medical facility at the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center, a state maximum-security prison for men.
"I was looking for something permanent when I met Sandy," said Braumiller, referring to McGatha who was seated next to him.
"We're glad he's here and in more ways than one," said McGatha, alluding to the several areas in which Braumiller is involved.
Starting Jan. 1, the newly arrived psychiatrist will serve as medical director for the New Beginnings Behavioral Health Unit. He is also setting up a private practice to be located at what is being called the Primary Care Clinic, located at 627 South Ash, the facility next to Dr. Lovinger's building.
Braumiller added, "While I will serve as medical director, Dr. David Taylor will concentrate on inpatient care, while after 1 p.m., my focus will be outpatient care, primarily through the clinic."
Working alongside those doctors is Scott Gibbs, physician assistant. While a doctor must examine the patient upon admission and prior to discharge. Gibbs will oversee much of the day-to-day care.
Braumiller is already involved with a third area, New Vision. This is the hospital's short term, inpatient program for those withdrawing from alcohol, prescription medications, and/or drugs.
The psychiatric unit at NRMC has two sections. The regular adult unit has 22 beds, the separate geriatric unit has space for eight while the New Vision program can treat between four to six patients.
"One thing I've noticed is the staff on the BHU, their work is not just a job, they are motivated to help, they're really good people" said Braumiller.
To reinforce what he said, the doctor referred to letters posted on a wall in the unit.
"Usually, the only letters you see are those written by patients explaining why they should be released," said Braumiller. "But there's a wall in the BHU with letter after letter written by patients and their families, actually thanking the doctors and staff for their care. And that's really something when you realize that many of the patients are there against their wishes."
The doctor has worked in many different places in a several states.
"And I've never seen that before," said Braumiller. "This unit is something special."
The doctor believes that with having doctors consistently on site and a bit more marketing, the BHU should be at or near capacity all the time.
This led McGatha to remark, "Our patient population is changing. We've recently had one from Illinois and another from Maine."
Because of his experience with a wide variety of patients and having worked at larger facilities, Dr. Braumiller brings an awareness of the latest advances and best practices.
The hospitalists at NRMC -- which are provided by contract with Freeman, Joplin -- were not familiar with some of the medications used in the New Vision program. Braumiller, in conjunction with Drs. David Taylor and Rick Kellenberger is undertaking some education, which -- he reports -- is being well received.
Braumiller mentioned the wide variety of outpatients he has seen, highlighting those with post traumatic stress syndrome.
"It's a challenge and an honor to work with veterans but then again, I just really like empowering people and with Sandy here and the staff at NRMC, we're able to help a lot of people."