Training in Neurology: Feedback from graduates about the psychiatry component of residency training

Abstract

Objective:To obtain feedback from early career adult and child neurologists about the psychiatry component of residency training.Methods:A survey was developed and administered electronically to four cohorts of recently certified American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology diplomates.Results:The response rate was 16% (431/2,677) and included 330 adult neurologists and 101 child neurologists. Less than half of the respondents described themselves as extremely or quite satisfied with their psychiatry training while 26% of the adult neurologists and 33% of the child neurologists felt slightly or not at all prepared for this component of practice. Four themes were identified in the respondents’ suggestions for improving psychiatry training: provide more outpatient experience; provide more time/teaching in psychiatry; provide more experience with both pharmacological and non-pharmacological psychiatric treatments; and provide more exposure to patients with conditions likely to be encountered in neurology/child neurology practice.Conclusion:These recent graduates of adult and child neurology residency programs felt under prepared for the psychiatric issues they encountered in their patients. They suggested a number of strategies for better alignment of psychiatry training with the likely demands of practice, and a model curriculum recently developed by the American Academy of Neurology’s Consortium of Neurology Program Directors and the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training also provides guidance for both neurology and psychiatry program directors.