Factors Affecting Psychiatry Resident Decision to Pursue Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry or Other Subspecialty Fellowship Training.
Publication/Presentation Date
1-1-2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND: There is a national shortage of psychiatrists with subspecialty fellowship training, and many fellowship positions are unfilled.
OBJECTIVE: We conducted a survey of US psychiatry residents to better understand the motivation to pursue fellowship training and to determine any specific factors that were particularly influential in choosing a fellowship in consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry.
METHODS: Online surveys were distributed electronically to US general psychiatry residents through the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training list server.
RESULTS: A total of 219 questionnaires were completed. Interest in fellowship declined during residency training. Most important factors in consideration of fellowship training were lifestyle (89%), finances (69%), and academic opportunities (63%). Specific influential factors were residency experiences, attending staff as a role model, and medical school experiences. Most important discouraging factors were extra training time, financial concerns, and belief that fellowship training was not necessary. Only 30% of residents had outpatient C-L psychiatry experiences. Few residents belonged to any subspecialty organization or attended any subspecialty meeting. Residents interested in C-L psychiatry fellowships had lower expectation of increased salary than other residents. Outpatient practice settings were seen as preferable over inpatient settings by most residents.
CONCLUSIONS: Results of this survey suggest that enhancing consultation psychiatry exposure in medical school and residency with strong role models, outpatient C-L psychiatry experiences, facilitating subspecialty organization membership and meeting attendance, emphasizing academic opportunities of fellowship training, and improving remuneration for fellowship-trained psychiatrists might be important factors that could improve recruitment into C-L psychiatry and other psychiatric fellowships.
Volume
62
Issue
1
First Page
38
Last Page
45
ISSN
2667-2960
Published In/Presented At
Becker, M. A., Bradley, M. V., Montalvo, C., Nash, S. S., Shah, S. B., Tobin, M., & Desan, P. H. (2021). Factors Affecting Psychiatry Resident Decision to Pursue Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry or Other Subspecialty Fellowship Training. Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, 62(1), 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2020.05.009
Disciplines
Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
PubMedID
32665148
Department(s)
Administration and Leadership
Document Type
Article