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The UCI School of Medicine Train New Trainers (TNT) Primary Care Psychiatry (PCP) Fellowship is a year-long clinical education program for primary care-oriented trainees and providers who wish to receive advanced training in primary care psychiatry. Primary care psychiatry is targeted at the most frequently encountered mental health-related disorders and treatments. We train primary care providers to:
UC Davis launched the fellowship in 2016, enrolling 35 fellows from around California. In 2018 the program was moved to UCI School of Medicine. We have trained over 580 partipcants across the United States!
The primary goal of the TNT PCP fellowship is to provide mentorship and teaching skills in the area of primary care psychiatry. Trainees will learn:
Note that this is not a traditional or Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-approved fellowship.
Recent reports show an alarming disconnect between supply and demand for psychiatric services in the United States. According to a 2017 report by the National Council for Behavioral Health, the ratio of psychiatrists to population in the U.S. declined by 10 percent between 2003 and 2013. Nearly half the nation’s psychiatrists are private practitioners who operate on a cash-only basis. Fifty-five percent of counties in the continental U.S. have no psychiatrists, and 77 percent have a severe shortage.
Meanwhile, demand for mental health services is on the rise. Depression is now a leading cause of disability in the U.S. Estimates indicate one in four families are struggling with some aspect of mental illness. A recent Milbank Memorial Fund report said among children ages 9 to 17, as many as one in five may have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder.
Primary care practitioners are living with the fallout. An estimated 40 percent of patients seen in a primary care setting on any given day have an active psychiatric problem, while half the patients referred by a primary care provider for psychiatric treatment are unable to access services.
Exacerbating the gap in appropriate care: The vast majority of primary care providers have suboptimal training in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.
Are we creating a replacement for psychiatrists? No. Our fellows are trained in the basics of treating mild to moderate illnesses, including anxiety and depression. Patients with more serious conditions still would be referred to specialists.
Providers in these specialties could benefit from this fellowship:
Mental health providers may also benefit from this fellowship and are welcome to apply.
The curriculum includes over 50 required hours of training and will lead to a certificate of completion from the UC Irvine Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior.
A minimum of 45 CME hours will be included as part of the fellowship tuition for 100 percent attendance of all sessions.
Reading materials will be provided, including a primary care psychiatry curriculum, which was developed by UC Irvine family medicine, internal medicine and psychiatry faculty. An emphasis will be placed on how best to provide culturally/linguistically competent and person-centered clinical care.
Pre-, midpoint and post-testing will be used to measure changes in practice patterns and general knowledge in primary care psychiatry. Upon completion of this training, fellows will receive a certificate of completion from the UC Irvine Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior.
Core TNT PCP topics include:
Eligible participants must be licensed physicians, nurse practitioners or physician's assistants. To apply, complete an application online. Upon acceptance to the program, the $15,500 tuition payment must be received before initiation of fellowship year. 2023 TNT PCP Fellowship application cylce is now open. Apply here
TNT PCP fellows must complete the following to receive a certificate of completion:
5 MINUTE PRIMARY CARE PSYCHIATRY PODCAST
Sit back as faculty from UCI Train New Trainers Primary Care Fellowship take you through clinical scenarios and impart practical and essential mental health information for busy primary care providers in just 5 minutes.
Founding Director |
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Associate Director |
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Director of Research |
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Research Team |
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Ariel Neikrug, PhD - Associate Director of Research |
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Shutong Huo | |
Annamarie Stehli |
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Faculty |
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Jeremy DeMartini, MD |
John Onate, MD |
Jaesu Han, MD | Jody Rawles, MD |
John Luo, MD |
Lorin Scher, MD |
CAP Track Faculty |
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Melissa Hopkins, MD |
Lauren James, DO |
Melissa Wagner, MD, PhD | |
Allied Faculty |
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Jim Bourgeois, OD, MD | Angela Mayorga, MD |
Lindsey Enoch, MD | Amy Nuismer, MD |
Matthew Gibson, MD | Barbara Nightingale, MD |
Neha Gupta, MD | Cameron Quanbeck, MD |
Tom Heinrich, MD | Jeffrey Rado, MD |
Shawn Hersevoort, MD | Amir Ramezani, PhD |
Charles Hebert, MD | Demetra Stamm, MD |
David Karol, MD |
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Jagdeep Kaur, MD | Martha Ward, MD |
Michael Lang, MD |
Angie Yu, MD |
David Liu, MD |
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For more information or questions about the TNT PCP Fellowship, please contact Kamilah McGuire, Program Coordinator, at krmcguir@hs.uci.edu or 949-824-4910.