The State of Residency Training In C-L: An Analysis and Discussion of Results from the 2021 ACLP National Survey

Abstract: In 2021, the Residency Education Subcommittee conducted a national survey of psychiatry residency program directors to determine the landscape of residency training in consultation-liaison psychiatry (CLP). The survey found that, while overall time in CLP is increasing, nearly 20% of programs have moved CLP training earlier in residency. As a result, only 43.7% programs remain compliant with the 2014 APM recommendation to include some core CL training in the second half of residency, as compared with 61.4% programs in 2010, and over 1/5 of programs that participated in the survey have some core CLP experiences in PGY-1. The popularity of outpatient CLP experiences has also increased, with over 20% of programs including an outpatient CLP experience for residents during training, and a variety of clinic types represented. Concerningly, 1/5 of programs reported no residency graduates pursuing CLP in the past 5 years and a similar proportion reported having no CLP-trained faculty on their services. In this workshop, we will briefly review additional results of the survey and then dive more deeply into some of these topic areas to discuss implications for residency training in CLP.





Scott Beach, Program Director of the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Program, will provide an overview of the survey results and moderate the panel.





Steven Fischel, Program Director of the UMass Chan–Baystate Psychiatry Residency Program and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs, Psychiatry, Baystate Health will discuss the trend of placing CLP training earlier in residency training. This will be examined both from an overall training program perspective, including a discussion of advantages of earlier training, as well as from the perspective of the CL service in terms of differences in having junior as opposed to senior residents on the service.





David Fipps, Senior Associate Consultant in Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, Transplant Psychiatry, and Bariatric Surgery Psychiatry at Mayo Clinic, will discuss the growing trend of including some core CLP experience in the intern year. He will discuss challenges and potential benefits, as well as providing some specific examples of successful models of this approach.





Ann Schwartz, Program Director of the Emory Psychiatry Program and Director of the CL Service at Grady Hospital will talk about outpatient CLP experiences for trainees, which are also increasing in popularity. She will review a framework for CLP educators who are considering developing outpatient rotations within their programs.




Finally, Sam Greenstein, Director, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship at LIJ and NSUH/Northwell Health, will talk about an ongoing need for more residency graduates to pursue CLP as a career choice and for more CLP-trained faculty supervising residents. Dr. Greenstein will offer his own perspective on the value of CLP fellowship, including discussing a unique model for encouraging additional training.

Note: Not eligible for ASWB credit.