Interviewing fellow Psychiatrists

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With medicine the way it is these days, just looking at where they went to school and residency would be important to me. I'd probably ask about any hiccups during training. If they were fine on those qualifications, I'd just have a conversation with them to see if they would fit in on a personal level.
I had a medical director ask me during a job interview what I thought about kids being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I said I had only seen one or two legitimate cases in fellowship and he seemed very impressed.
 
I just typed out a long response, that was essentially rambling. Here's my response:
Too many variables to answer this. Ranging from how concrete the job description and flexibility of it is, to how many candidates are interviewing. So many variables that can impact the nature of the interview. Mine, if ever, had any really clinical questions, they were usually just casual conversations, and asking them questions to find out if it were a good fit for me (candidate).

When the day comes that I seek to add a partner, I'm going to want to know a lot more details about their clinical practice style, and conversely what do they really want out of a practice to make them happy. Is there enough overlap in practice and practice goals to make it work fluidly?
 
I had a medical director ask me during a job interview what I thought about kids being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I said I had only seen one or two legitimate cases in fellowship and he seemed very impressed.

It's funny because I had this exact same thought as a medical student and resident but going over the data and seeing very sick kids in fellowship definitely changed my opinion. Considering studies showing that >50% of kids diagnosed (in this study by a CAP) with bipolar meet criteria as adults, clearly good clinicians are picking up on something. There is probably some DMDD vs broad band bipolar disorder that could be better delineated with future research that is not the same as adult bipolar I/II which causes quite a bit of diagnostic confusion but that does not mean you should throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I do have to explain (an inordinate amount of times) to many a parent that your kid having "mood swings" when not getting their way is not in fact bipolar disorder but I think we've all had that talk about 29716275327 times.
 
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