Virtual Recruitment Forum Attracts 115 Residents
Live Q&A featured helps reveal C-L Fellowship Secrets
ACLP partnered with the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in mid-June to stage a virtual recruitment forum to help promote C-L Psychiatry fellowships to medical students and residents.
Organized by the Residency Education Subcommittee, the forum Secrets of Applying to C-L Fellowships in 2021 attracted an audience of more than 115 registrants many of whom took part in a live Q&A session. A recording of the forum is posted here.
The webinar was presented by:
- Sejal Shah, MD, FACLP, C-L Fellowship Director, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Chair of the APA Council on C-L Psychiatry (CoCLP)
- Paul Desan, MD, PhD, FACLP, C-L Fellowship Director, Yale and ACLP Board director
- Sara Nash, MD, FACLP, C-L Fellowship Director, Columbia
- Raymond Young, MD, FACLP, C-L Fellowship Director, Emory
- Kewchang Lee, MD, FACLP, C-L Fellowship Director, University of California-San Francisco
- Marcella Pascualy, MD, C-L Fellowship Director, University of Washington
- Abhisek “Chandan” Khandai, MD, C-L Attending, University of Illinois at Chicago
The forum was proposed by APA’s Council on Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry as one initiative aimed at counteracting the psychiatric workforce shortage which is estimated to peak in 2024.
Factors contributing to the shortage, identified by the APA, include:
- An increasing demand for services.
- The inability of Psychiatry residencies to train enough psychiatrists to meet population growth.
- The expected rate of retirements among psychiatrists.
Further, disparities exist because of the unequal distribution of behavioral health providers in rural areas and because many psychiatrists do not accept health insurance as reimbursement.
Solutions being explored include:
- Interventions to increase the number of mental health providers (psychiatrists, advanced practice registered nurses, and other professionals).
- Incorporating innovative models such as collaborative care and Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) to best utilize the existing workforce.
- Using technology to reach currently under-served populations.
