Am J Psychiatry 1994; 151:722-727
Copyright © 1994 by American Psychiatric Association
Administrative relationships between community mental health centers and academic psychiatry departments: a 12-year update
EJ Douglas, LR Faulkner, JA Talbott, CB Robinowitz and JS Eaton Jr
Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia 29203.
OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the administrative relationships in
1990 between medical school departments of psychiatry and community mental
health centers (CMHCs). METHOD: A 20-item questionnaire was sent to the
chairpersons of the 110 medical school departments of psychiatry with
accredited psychiatric residencies. RESULTS: Sixty-nine percent of the
chairpersons responded to the questionnaire. Sixty-eight percent of the
responding chairpersons reported that their departments had relationships
with CMHCs, and 90% of these relationships involved the education of
psychiatric residents. Most responding chairpersons described the quality
of their existing CMHC relationships as good to excellent. In the most
common type of relationship reported the CMHC was used as a setting for
resident education. The vast majority of responding chairpersons stated
that quality resident education is possible in a CMHC, and about two-thirds
of the responding chairpersons with CMHC relationships involving residency
education rated the CMHC rotation as of major importance to their residency
programs. CONCLUSIONS: CMHCs continue to be an important and valued
component of the educational experience for many psychiatric residents, and
many departments of psychiatry have recognized the advantages and benefits
of CMHCs for residency training. There are now considerable data on how a
relationship between a medical school department and a CMHC should be
structured to achieve maximum benefit for both the department and the CMHC.
