Child Psychiatrists See Triple-Board Programs as Recruitment Tool
The strategic plan recently initiated by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) (Original article: see story above) recommends creating five new triple-board programs by 2008 to expand the pool of practicing child psychiatrists.
The triple-board program takes five years to complete and includes two years of pediatrics training and three years (1.5 years each) of adult and child and adolescent psychiatry training, said Tom Anders, M.D., co-chair of the AACAP Steering Committee on Work Force Issues, in an interview with Psychiatric News.
“Each new triple-board program would have two child psychiatry training slots. By adding a new program annually starting in 2004, there would be 10 new board-eligible child and adolescent psychiatrists by the year 2013,” said Anders.
Gregory Fritz, M.D.: “Residents who complete triple-board programs are highly qualified to practice and in great demand in the job market.”
The federal government continues to limit the number of funded graduate medical education residency training positions, which puts pressure on directors to maintain the status quo unless there is outside funding, said Fritz. “There is also a bias against the triple-board programs among some department chairs who believe that they produce ‘a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none.’
“There is no evidence to support that view, Fritz said. “Residents who complete triple-board programs are highly qualified to practice and in great demand in the job market. However, the pool of applicants has remained relatively small.”
It was clear from the focus group on minority medical students that AACAP held recently that many of them were unfamiliar with triple-board programs. “We must do a better job of publicizing the programs if we are going to succeed in attracting more students and expanding the number of programs,” said Fritz. ▪
