Child and adolescent psychiatry training in the USA: current pathways

• Published in: European child & adolescent psychiatry Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 63 - 69
• Main Authors: Hunt, Jeffrey, Reichenberg, Jared, Lewis, A. Lee, Jacobson, Sansea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Access; Adolescent; Adolescent Psychiatry - education; Adolescents; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Child Psychiatry - education; Competence; Education, Medical - methods; Female; Humans; International collaboration; Male; Medical education; Medical students; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neurology; Psychiatrists; Psychiatry; Review; Teenagers; United States; United States; United States > US; Medical education; Child and adolescent psychiatry; Residency training
• ISSN: 1018-8827; 1435-165X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00787-019-01402-9

This manuscript reviews contemporary training in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry in the USA. There are multiple well-defined pathways to becoming a child and adolescent psychiatrist in the USA. The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education oversees child and adolescent psychiatry training programs and ensures that training programs are meeting the appropriate common and program-specific requirements. The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology ensures that the individual child and adolescent psychiatrist is competent. There is a substantial shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists in the US, and efforts are being made to increase the number of and accessibility of trained child and adolescent psychiatrists. Child and adolescent psychiatry training in the United Sates is constantly evolving and future directions include increased engagement of medical students and general psychiatry residents, new abbreviated pathways for training, and international collaboration between programs.