6.21 LEARN THEN APPLY: INCREASED IMPACT OF FORMAL EDUCATION WITH CONSULTATION SUPPORT ON PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND CONFIDENCE IN CHILD MENTAL HEALTH CARE

Objectives: Several large-scale child psychiatric collaborative care programs have been developed across the U.S in the past 10 years. Few studies have investigated the impact of these programs. This study provides data on the impact of CAP PC on PCP self-report of comfort and competence in assessing and managing mental health problems. Methods: CAP PC is a New York State Office of Mental Health funded child psychiatric access program that provides service to 90% of New York State. The program is a collaboration between 5 university-based child psychiatry divisions and opened on October 1, 2010. CAP PC consists of 3 broad efforts: formal education, linkage/referral assistance, and consultation support for primary care physicians. The flagship educational program is the REACH Institute-developed Mini-Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, a 28 hour CME program. The consultation component utilizes a single toll-free phone line and maintains a website at www.cappcny.org. This study provides data from the annual survey results of PCPs participating in the program. Results: The program has surveyed participating PCPs annually. This study reports data from 356 survey responses from 2013-2015, with an average response rate of 24 percent. The responses were analyzed based on 3 cohorts: PCPs who have utilized the phone line only, PCPs who have taken the REACH Mini-Fellowship program, and PCPs who have completed the REACH Mini-Fellowship and utilized the consultation phone line at least 3 times. PCPs who have taken the REACH Mini-Fellowship show greater confidence in their knowledge and ability to assess child mental health problems. In addition, they report greater confidence in prescribing stimulants, ADHD non-stimulant treatments, SSRIs, and atypicals. The findings are more robust for PCPs who completed the REACH training and also utilized the phone consultation service more than 3 times. Conclusions: CAP PC is a collaborative consultation program that is now six years old. The program distinctively emphasizes the synergy between formal education and consultation support. This data demonstrates that PCPs who receive formal training show greater confidence and sense of competence. Those who also utilize the consultation service show the greatest degree of confidence and range of comfort in treating children with child mental health problems.