Addressing psychiatric problems in primary care pediatrics

[BlueSultan]

Hello! I am a current pre-clinical medical student who is interested in both pediatrics and psychiatry. I think I'd enjoy being a primary care pediatrician, but I also really like the idea of helping address common psychiatric problems like depression and anxiety in children/adolescents.

I was wondering to what extent a primary care pediatrician would be able to help patients with these problems, and whether you feel as though you get to address mental health concerns fairly often? Or do you find that you usually need to refer patients with depression and/or anxiety to child psychiatrists and don't provide much treatment yourselves?

Thank you for any and all insight!

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[physicsnerd42]

Refer mostly. General Pediatricians are not adequately trained to treat most pediatric psychiatric problems other than ADHD. You should think about the combine Peds/psych/Peds psych residency.


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[FrkyBgStok]

Depends on what you feel comfortable doing. Most people refer because most people don’t have an interest in it. But there is no rule (outside of hospital credentialing) that says a general pediatrician can’t prescribe psychiatric medications, or that you can’t tailor a general peds practice to heart kids, or behavioral kids, etc. you could do a combined residency. One fellowship that seems heavier in the psychiatric side, and is in dire need, is adolescent medicine.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

They have triple board programs for those interested in both.
Welcome to Triple Board Program! | Triple Board Residency Training Program in Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

 

[MEN2C]

It depends on your interest and abilities. Depression and anxiety are definitely sometimes treated by pediatricians if they are interested and stay up to date on the literature. Things like Bipolar D/O and Schizophrenia, you would refer out (at least I haven't heard of any general pediatricians managing that.

Adolescent medicine, and developmental/behavior pediatrics do a lot more of that type of thing. Or you can do the peds/psych combined thing for sure.

 

[mvenus929]

There is a severe shortage of child psychiatrists. So a lot of gen pediatricians end up doing basic psych things. My friend is in her second year of attending hood and got some additional training on psych things in residency, so sees more of those kids than her partners do. She manages basic ADHD, depression, and anxiety. Anything super complex she still refers.

 

[BlueSultan]

Thank you for all of the responses! It's good to hear that there are pediatricians who can handle some of the more common psychiatric problems, as long as they have the proper training. I've definitely looked into the Triple Board programs as well, and while it seems like few of the residents end up going into primary care pediatrics I'll definitely keep those programs in mind.