Innovative continuing medical education program for paediatricians: A model for the delivery of mental health services

Abstract

Paediatricians have described themselves as feeling insufficiently trained to manage young people (and their families) with significant psychosocial distress and mental illness - who can comprise a large proportion of their practices. A continuing medical education program for a group of four paediatricians who treat the paediatric mental health needs of a large Ontario catchment area with few mental health resources is described. At a monthly educational and consultation clinic, the paediatricians discuss and personally interview their own patients and referrals while a child psychiatrist and a psychiatric social worker, using a two-way mirror, assist them to develop psychosocial interviewing skills and techniques, and diagnostic formulations.