At the end of February, our third cohort of the Community Based Integrated Care Fellowship completed their year-long training as part of the Integrated Care Training Program (ICTP) suite of programs. This program provides a foundation in Integrated Care to psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners who are already in practice in their communities. Modeled after an Executive MBA program, the program is innovative in its longitudinal, comprehensive approach to continuing education for health professionals. There are four components of the program – online didactics, four in-person two-day meetings, quality improvement projects, and one-on-one mentorship with our faculty. Amy Bauer, MD, MS, took over leadership of the Community Based Fellowship for Anna Ratzliff, MD, PhD, when Dr. Ratzliff took over the Residency Program. Ramanpreet Toor, MD, Jennifer Erickson, DO, Mark Newman, MD, and Katherine Palm-Cruz, MD, provide leadership to the four components of the program.
“This was quite the year to take over the leadership of this program,” says Dr. Bauer. “We were very lucky to complete our first in-person session in just under the wire before the shutdown due to COVID. COVID presented some challenges on all fronts, but our faculty and staff and especially our fellows really rose to excel.” The fellows shared their accomplishments at the final meeting during a communications workshop led by Becky Sladek, MS. To date, 38 fellows have completed the program and are practicing in counties across Washington State.
The ICTP program has some exciting changes coming to improve the sustainment and scalability of the training. Starting with the 2021-22 cohort, the Community Based Integrated Care Fellowship will align with the academic year. All learners will be integrated through a new combined fellowship didactic series for Community Based Fellows, ICTP Fellows, Residents, and other potential learners. The Community-Based Fellowship is currently recruiting. Please pass this flyer along to psychiatric providers you know who may be interested. For more information, visit the ICTP website.
