xxAACP Newsletter, Volume 16, Number 3, Spring 2002
Regional Report: Area
III
Virginia Supports
International Psychiatry Residents
Currently there is great disparity in Virginia regarding physician and psychiatrist supply. In an effort to promote access to psychiatric care in rural areas, Virginia has recently undertaken a number of initiatives. These initiatives include the designation of federal mental health underserved areas, funding for loan repayment for physicians who serve in these areas, and the development of a community psychiatry mentoring program at psychiatric academic training programs. These programs are all designed to recruit and retain psychiatrists. This has resulted in the collaboration of several state agencies, most notably the Department of Health with academic psychiatry training programs.
One very positive development of this collaboration has been the development of an international resident club, or J-1 visa club. Although in this particular group most residents have J-1 status, most issues addressed apply more broadly to international residents as well.
In the fall of 2001, several J-1 psychiatry residents from the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) approached Debbie Neirenberg, the Virginia physician recruiter program manager in the Health Department, with a need for information about how to stay in Virginia. All had virtually the same questions and concerns. A meeting was established, and all J-1 and international residents were invited. Eleven residents from all years of training attended the first meeting. At this meeting, it was determined that the group, now called the J-1 Psych Club, would meet quarterly and would be supported by the Health Department. Meetings usually include topics of concern to the J-1 residents, such as the 9/11 aftermath and their personal feelings, introduction to the concept of community volunteering, readings to learn about rural underserved areas, and placement issues. In fact, we are considering working through AACP Board member David Cutler’s book on Ethics in Community Mental Health Care which includes a number of chapters on contemporary community mental health topics that are not typical didactic subjects to which residents are exposed.
Four meetings have taken place so far, and usually eight residents attend. The goal is to promote a relationship between the J-1 psychiatry residents and the recruiter program manager to help match the residents with an underserved community upon completion of their Virginia residency program. Virginia attempts to place Virginia-trained J-1 psychiatry residents in Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (MHPSA). The MCV J-1 Club meetings enable the recruiter program manager to get to know the psychiatry residents as people, and therefore to have a better idea as to where they would best serve Virginia’s needs. In the 2003 J-1 cycle she hopes to place five of these residents in areas of interest to them. This hopefully will help with eventual retention after they have completed their three years of service.
Debbi J. Nierenberg, Program Manager, Recruitment and Retention for the
Virginia Department of Health (VDH), Office of Health Policy and Planning (OHPP).
Anita Everett, MD, Office of the Governor and AACP Representative-at-Large
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