24. EARLY EXPOSURE TO BEHAVIORAL, MENTAL, AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH IN GENERAL PEDIATRICS

Abstract

Background For residents entering general pediatrics, graduate surveys revealed a desire for increased behavioral health and psychiatry exposure early in training. Moreover, current residents requested earlier adolescent experience to better prepare them for continuity. Presently, interns spend 9-12 weeks in general pediatrics providing exclusive acute, newborn, and well child care. The majority of adolescent training is during third year, and there is no dedicated time spent with psychology nor psychiatry. Given the many competing interests in residency training, implementing a robust curriculum to better prepare residents for all aspects of general pediatrics is imperative. Objective Increase early exposure to behavioral psychology, psychiatry, and adolescent health in general pediatrics without compromising other educational priorities nor patient access. Methods We developed multiple half day experiences for interns during general pediatrics rotations while ensuring adequate clinic staffing for patient access. Over the course of the year, each intern spends approximately 4-6 half days in each of the following clinics: behavioral health, psychiatry, and adolescent health. To ensure that the experiences were useful and adequate patient access was maintained, we surveyed faculty and residents after each rotation. Results For those exposed to the new curriculum, all 18 interns, 3 of 6 senior residents, and 10 of 16 faculty members responded to surveys. For interns, 40% found outpatient psychiatry useful; 90% found the behavioral health clinic useful; and 94% found the adolescent clinic useful. Of all interns, 81% felt that these experiences did not jeopardize other learning in general pediatrics. For faculty and senior residents, 100% felt that having interns intermittently missing from clinic did not adversely affect the educational priorities of clinic nor clinic staffing. Conclusion The early addition of experiences such as behavioral health, outpatient psychiatry, and adolescent training is valued by residents and does not jeopardize patient access nor other educational priorities.