With each new recruitment season, residency candidates ask about any upcoming major changes to the residency program. As we continue to review and assess the program’s structure and processes to enhance the learning environment and well-being of our residents, our next improvement strategy is to restructure the leadership of the program. The long-term goal is to transform from a site-based model to a centralized model where associate program directors (APDs) are responsible for a specific cohort of residents (e.g., PGY-1) as well as a program area of focus (e.g., Wellness). This proposal was prompted by feedback from both faculty and residents regarding an overall lack of transparency on the roles and responsibilities of an APD and gaps in “coverage” of resident issues and concerns when residents rotate at non-psychiatry and non-hospital-based clinical sites.

The new model is intended to provide residents with the confidence to know who their designated APD is regardless of rotation site. Each APD will also have areas of focus on either Wellness and EDI, quality improvement and patient safety (QIPS), psychotherapy, or career and track development. The latter will boost resident-to-faculty retention efforts and “sub-specialization” opportunities during the residency. To start, track development will include geriatric psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, perinatal psychiatry, and neuromodulation. We look forward to working with our education team on these improvements to our residency program and we hope to share more about exciting opportunities related to these changes in the coming months.