45. DEVELOPING NATIONAL LEADERS IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY WORKFORCE; A SURVEY OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY. FELLOWSHIP GRADUATES WHO WERE TRAINED IN UNDERSERVED AREAS OF NEW YORK STATE.

Introduction

There is a national shortage of psychiatrists in the field of geriatric psychiatry, particularly in underserved areas. The main goals of the New York Statewide / Columbia University Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship are to 1) develop geriatric psychiatrists who are national leaders; (2) disseminate expertise in geriatric psychiatry to underserved urban and rural areas; and (3) foster the development of a geriatric mental health workforce in NY State.

The program provides educational experiences in a variety of academic and federally designated medically underserved urban and rural settings, from its academic base at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center to hospital centers in underserved areas such as Greater Binghamton Health Center and Rockland Psychiatric Center. All fellows, in both the NYC and Binghamton tracks, rotate at a wide range of clinical sites in NYC, Upstate NY, and Rockland County and have been entitled to many resources. However, while the NYC track consistently fills its fellowship slots, our Upstate NY track is often underfilled. We hypothesize that the diversity of training opportunities in the program and availability of many academic and clinical resources are a main draw to the fellowship Columbia Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship, but we do not know whether completion of the fellowship has helped contribute to a geriatric mental health workforce and developed leaders in the field of geriatric psychiatry in NY State. The survey also asks about graduates’ experiences in the fellowship and suggestions to improve recruitment into rural fellowship programs nationwide.

Methods

We have identified over 30 email addresses of graduates of the Columbia Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship since 2001 and we aim to send out a 12-question confidential survey to the fellowship graduates asking about their experience in the fellowship, how it has influenced their career trajectory, as well as their current work settings and patient population.

Results

We have developed the 12-question survey, and we aim to send it out to fellowship graduates after receiving IRB approval. We will send the survey out in December 2024, collect all data by January 2025, and publish the results in March 2025 for the AAGP annual meeting.

Conclusions

We will hypothesize if the fellowship’s unique collaboration between an urban academic medical center and rural state-run hospitals, working with underserved population in NY State, utilization of resources and teach geriatric psychiatry to a wide range of learners has helped facilitate leadership opportunities in geriatric psychiatry in the United States.