Primary Care and Neurology in Psychiatry Residency Training: a Survey of Early Career Psychiatrists

Objective: A survey of recently certified psychiatrists was conducted to obtain their feedback about the contribution of the primary care and neurology components of residency training to their professional development and to their current needs as practitioners. Methods: A 22-item survey was developed based on issues discussed at a forum on residency competence requirements and administered electronically to four cohorts of recently certified psychiatrists. Results: The response rate was 17% (1049/6083). Overall, the respondents described both their primary care and neurology experiences as helping them accomplish several goals for their professional development. The majority were satisfied with their primary care training and felt well-prepared to enter practice. The most common suggestions for improving the primary care component were better integration with psychiatry and providing longitudinal experiences and more outpatient experience. They were somewhat less satisfied with their neurology training, and only about half felt well-prepared for the neurologic aspects of psychiatry practice. The most common suggestions for improving neurology training were to provide more time in neurology with experiences that were more relevant to psychiatry such as outpatient and consultation experiences. Some also thought longitudinal experiences would be useful. Conclusions: These psychiatrists were generally satisfied with the primary care and neurology components of residency training and felt that they had contributed to their professional development. Their suggestions for improvement contribute to the rich discussion among training directors and other psychiatry educators about these components of residency training.