Psychedelic medicine in psychiatry residency training: a survey of psychiatric residency program directors.
Mary E. Yaden, Terence H. W. Ching, Noam Goldway, Daniel E. Roberts, Jamila Hokanson, Natalie Gukasyan, Christopher Pittenger, Benjamin Kelmendi, Stephen Ross, Gianni Glick, Kelley C. O’donnell
Int Rev Psychiatry September 11, 2024 DOI: 10.1080/09540261.2024.2397039 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 61 |
| Population | US psychiatry residency training directors |
| Topics | Psychedelic-assisted therapy |
| Keywords | Psychedelic therapies Innovative treatments Promising new modalities Psychiatric training Residency training Medical education Educational offerings Preparing psychiatrists Mental healthcare future Future mental healthcare Mainstream psychiatric practice Mental health integration Emerging therapies Emerging field |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key findings | Most training directors favor more psychedelic education but cite shortages of materials and faculty; nearly all are interested in a standardized curriculum. |
Abstract
Objective: The growth of psychedelic medicine creates new challenges in psychiatric education as physicians may soon be responsible for prescribing a number of psychedelic interventions. Despite this growing need for educated providers, very little is known about the training psychiatry residents receive in psychedelic medicine. We conducted a survey to determine the current educational opportunities as well as the priorities and concerns held by training directors about this emerging field.
Methods: We emailed an online survey to US psychiatry residency training directors. Respondents answered questions about current offerings in psychedelic medicine, as well as their interest, priorities, and concerns about curricular materials and their delivery.
Results: Sixty-one programs responded to our survey. The majority of respondents (64%) favored devoting additional time to psychedelic education, but many endorsed concerns about the dearth of educational materials (54%) and limited availability of faculty to deliver content (46%). The majority of programs (94%) expressed some interest in implementing a standardized curriculum in psychedelic medicine.
Conclusion: Training directors recognized that their current curricular materials are limited, and they appeared interested in additional support to meet the upcoming demand in psychedelic education. Further research can inform curriculum development and implementation of psychedelic education in residency training.