Pediatricians and mental health professionals. Patterns of collaboration and utilization

A. S. Bergman and G. K. Fritz

We surveyed 1,089 fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics regarding (1) their experiences with child psychiatrists during training, (2) their current utilization preferences and practice with psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, and (3) differences in responses between pediatricians who completed ambulatory pediatric and related training and other pediatricians with respect to the aforementioned questions. Of those pediatricians who had contact with psychiatrists during training, more than 68% remembered the psychiatrist as being helpful. There was a strong preference on the part of all respondents for referral to a "behaviorally oriented pediatrician" for selected psychosocial problems. The pediatricians trained in ambulatory pediatrics believed they were more competent to treat the psychosocial problems of their patients than did other pediatricians and indicated more collaborative activities with psychiatrists than did other pediatricians.