Public-Academic Partnerships: Core Elements of a Public Psychiatry Fellowship

Abstract

As the oldest, largest, and best known program for training psychiatrists to become public-sector leaders, the Columbia University Public Psychiatry Fellowship (PPF) at New York State Psychiatric Institute has frequently been consulted by other departments of psychiatry planning public and community fellowship programs. PPF's faculty has developed seven core elements for such training programs. The fellowship's longevity and the career paths of its graduates suggest that these core elements represent a best-practices model for fellowship training in public-community psychiatry.

The Evolution of Public Psychiatry Fellowships

“…Fellowship Directors complete yearly surveys that pose specific questions about the level of adherence to the core elements for PPF’s published by Columbia faculty [2] and guidelines from the American Association of Community Psychiatrists (AACP) [3]. The results are reviewed and discussed at the meetings of the fellowship directors.…”

A Community Psychiatry Nurse Practitioner Fellowship: Preparing Nurse Practitioners for Mental Health Workforce Expansion

“…This feedback is then reviewed by the fellowship leadership and integrated into the planning of the program as appropriate. Fellows use the monthly mentoring sessions to develop leadership skills that will enhance their job satisfaction and performance in their careers (13).…”

A Day in the Life of a Public Psychiatry Fellow

“…Early and mid-career psychiatrists in the US now spend the majority of their work week in publicly funded settings [2] and there are increasing numbers of training programs in Public and Community Psychiatry around the country [3,4]. However, there is as yet no formal recognition of this field as a psychiatric subspecialty, and there is a dearth of knowledge about training in Public Psychiatry.…”