Educating Psychiatry Residents to Practice in Smaller Communities: A Regional Residency Track Model

Both have a severe shortage of mental health providers, poor access to mental health care, and suicide rates 46–54 % above the national average [6]. [...]our psychiatry residency program established two regional tracks in smaller cities in our region, located in the midst of large, underserved areas, with the goal of preparing general psychiatrists to practice in these communities. Applicants were selected to interview for a regional track based on their interest in rural or smaller community psychiatry, interest in general rather than subspecialty clinical practice, and any ties to the regional community. Since the Seattle Track had always attracted and recruited residents with a variety of career goals, applicants for the regional tracks represented an expected subgroup of the existing applicant pool. Twenty-two of these (41.5 %) took jobs practicing in Spokane and the surrounding area, with ten in community or public psychiatry, five in private practice, five as hospitalists, one at the VA medical center, and one in student mental health.