Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Curriculum

The CAP fellowship curriculum provides comprehensive clinical training in acute inpatient psychiatry at the Dorothea Dix Adolescent Care unit, pediatric consultation liaison services in the pediatric emergency room and pediatric medical floor consultation. Fellows rotate at Communicare, which provides exposure to adolescent substance use intensive outpatient program, juvenile detention courts, and gang prevention programs. The fellowship provides a unique opportunity to work at Falcon Children's Home, which is a level-one group home, and Magnolia Hope, that is the only state-licensed children's safe house for trafficking youth in North Carolina. Additionally, collaboration with UNC's pediatric neurology department allows fellows to gain experience in this important modality of pediatric diagnosis and treatment. Fellows work very closely with the Cumberland County School systems and get to work with school psychologists in observing IEP meetings/evaluations etc., Fellows get exposure to neurodevelopmental disorders, ABA therapy, during their rotation through "Flaming Sword" which is a neurodevelopmental daycare for kids with autism, IDD and other neurodiversity.

Robust electives have been established to work with specialized outpatient community-based clinics in the subspecialties of eating disorders, neuropsychological testing, and participation in medical evaluations of child abuse cases with practicing forensic pediatric/child abuse specialists.

Aside from the established curriculum, fellows have the opportunity to develop skills in teaching, systems-based improvement, research, collaboration across disciplines, and public and global health initiatives. Fellows trained here at Cape Fear Valley Health graduate prepared to work as leaders in a full spectrum of roles in private, academic, research and community settings.

Education Components

Board Prep Review: (Monthly) We use Board Vitals to augment didactic sessions. Fellows review board prep questions as well as chapter reviews presented by faculty. These conferences are meant to provide the residents with the essentials of child and adolescent psychiatry and help to prepare students for the yearly ABPN in training exam and subsequent ABPN board examination.

Grand Rounds: This multispecialty conference is held monthly. A combination of faculty and visiting professors present a topic of their choice.

Journal Club: These conferences occur monthly during didactics. Articles are chosen from current literature with articles from related subspecialty journals.

Case Discussion Conference: These discussions are held monthly. Fellows, residents, and attendings discuss complicated cases encountered in the psychiatry service line. The focus is on improving outcomes and critical decision-making.

Presentations: Fellows as teachers will be held frequently during didactics once monthly where fellows will be teaching junior residents on child and adolescent psychiatry topics. Guest lecturers will present on the subject of the month. Fellows are required to actively participate in at least one quality improvement (QI) project before they graduate. Fellows attend the Campbell University School of Medicine (CUSOM) research night where they present their QI project projects and other research projects. Fellows are encouraged to present at the annual North Carolina Psychiatric Association (NCPA) meeting. Fellows are encouraged to attend the annual American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and any conference in the country where they will be presenting their own research. Funding from the Department of Graduate Medical Education covers the cost of the yearly meeting including travel, hotel accommodation, and meals.

Scholarly Activity/Research: Monthly meetings to review research opportunities for trainees and a forum to discuss and collaborate. A research month is facilitated by Cape Fear Valley's Graduate Medical Education Research Director to provide ample time to become published during your fellowship.

For Medical Students: If you are interested in rotating on the Dorothea Dix adolescent inpatient unit as a third or fourth year student interested in pediatrics or psychiatry, please contact the program administrator by email.