A Peer-to-Peer, Longitudinal Reproductive Psychiatry Educational Curriculum for Obstetrics/Gynecology Residents

Perinatal Psychopharmacology: Innovative Approaches to Care Delivery

“…Whereas a 1997 ACOG survey of ACOG fellows found that obstetricians were unlikely to prescribe antidepressants, 8 a subsequent 2018 survey of ACOG fellows found that most obstetricians (74.6%) at least sometimes prescribe antidepressants when a patient reports symptoms of depression. 9 In addition, most felt either somewhat (38.2%) or very comfortable (39.9%) prescribing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors to pregnant patients, but uncomfortable prescribing non-selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. 10 This highlights that there is a wide range of comfort with psychiatric medication management among Ob clinicians, likely due to variability in the level of education, exposure, confidence, and interest in treating patients with PMH conditions.…”

“…7 As the field of perinatal psychiatry has expanded greatly over a short period of time, practicing Ob clinicians may not have had access to relevant continuing education, and current Ob/Gyn residency training programs offer variable exposure to a perinatal psychiatry curriculum. 9 Thankfully, inconsistencies in training and comfort among Ob clinicians do not inherently lead to lower interest in treating perinatal patients with psychiatric conditions. In studies of educational interventions designed to improve trainee comfort and knowledge with treating pregnant patients with psychiatric conditions, Ob/Gyn residents reported a positive attitude toward treating this patient population even before the implementation of the curriculum.…”

Educating Other Physicians in the Provision of Psychiatric Care

“…In the February 2023 issue of Academic Psychiatry, four articles add to the literature on educating non-psychiatrists to provide psychiatric care [20][21][22][23]. In Westers et al [20], a faculty psychologist developed a 45-60-min didactic curriculum on addressing adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury for pediatric residents rotating through their required adolescent medicine rotation.…”

“…Two articles used a peer-to-peer approach to educate residents in surgery and obstetrics-gynecology [21,22]. In Buxton et al [21], eight psychiatric residents and two medical students participated in an expert-led training on trauma-informed care and then developed and delivered a 4-h curriculum to surgical residents, who often treat patients with a history of traumatic experiences.…”

“…In addition, participants reported increased confidence delivering trauma-informed clinical care. In Hage et al [22], two psychiatry residents developed a 2-h case-based intervention on perinatal and postpartum psychiatry for their colleagues training in obstetrics-gynecology. Following this curriculum, obstetrics-gynecology residents reported significantly increased comfort counseling patients on five of the eight psychiatric areas covered, including depression and anxiety, substance use disorders, trauma disorders, medications during pregnancy, and making outpatient referrals.…”