The Triple Board Residency program is a shining example of how University of Utah Health is changing the future of health care. One of only nine Triple Board Residency programs in the nation, residents who complete the program are board certified in pediatrics, child psychiatry, and adult psychiatry. Our goal is to train leaders in the field of mental health integration with expertise in cross-disciplinary care for children and adults with mental illness.
Based on a five-year rotation schedule, residents split their clinical time between pediatrics and adult, child, and adolescent psychiatry. Pediatrics clinical time is spent at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, a 289-bed tertiary care center incorporating major pediatric subspecialties, as well as in outpatient University of Utah Health pediatrics clinics. The remainder of their training— in adult, child, and adolescent psychiatry—is spent at HMHI, which also offers outpatient and day treatment services for children and adults throughout the greater Salt Lake region.
“Residents serve as psychiatric consultants to their pediatric residents, such as those in a pediatric resident continuity clinic,” says Kleinschmit. “So we’ve really found ways to benefit the sponsoring program with our expertise, which provides a good learning opportunity for us as well.”
“This program demonstrates a strong partnership between the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Psychiatry, and shows that we collaborate really well with other parts of the health care system to train good clinicians.”
Kristi Kleinschmit, MD, Vice Chair of Education
Resident Input Makes Us Stronger
Our Triple Board residents have inspired many innovative programs based on the needs they’ve seen. For example, our HOME clinic—a medical home for children and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities and mental health issues—started in partnership with a Triple Board clinician who recognized that care for these kinds of patients was fractured between psychiatric and medical practices.
Based on input from a Triple Board doctor, we also changed the way our inpatient child psychiatric units care for children, incorporating a hospitalist service so that the doctor is there all day long and can respond more quickly to needs that arise over the course of the day. The doctor had seen the efficiency of that model in pediatrics and translated it over to the psychiatric world.
“Having clinicians who can think like pediatricians but have the knowledge of providing child psychiatric care can be really beneficial to pediatrics,” says Kleinschmit. “They can put things together in a way that flows and makes sense for how pediatricians approach patient care.”
With the skills and experience to practice across disciplines, our Triple Board program prepares graduates to treat both children and adults, while inspiring innovative practices in physical and mental health.