Developing a Psychiatry Study Group for Community Pediatricians

Abstract

Most children with mental illness never see a child psychia­ trist, although they do visit pediatricians. We started a study group for 15 community pediatricians to help them identifY and manage psychiatric disorders that arise in thousands of children they see annually. Only a small percentage of children with such disorders are identified by their pediatri­ cians (Costello, 1986; Jellinek and Murphy, 1988). A survey of pediatricians documents the lack of priority in pediatric training given to psychosocial problems (Jellinek, 1982) despite patient satisfaction studies which highlight parental expectations that pediatricians will be able to manage psy­ chosocial issues (Bellet and Maloney, 1991; Hickson et aI., 1983). Establishing Our Study Group In the fall of 1988, under the auspices ofthe U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau, a group of pediatricians and child psychiatrists met in Washington, D.C., to discuss how pediatrics and child psychiatty could collaborate to support the psychobiological skills of primary care physicians. These meetings revived Solnit's pediatric study group approach (Solnit, 1968), now called collaborative office rounds. Maternal and Child Health Bureau grants were allocated throughout the country. Our pediatric study group was partially funded under this grant. The time spent by the group leaders is mainly funded through their salaries as