Two members of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine served as faculty on a leadership curriculum recently published online in the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Learning Center.
Tobias Wasser, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Program Director of the Yale Psychiatry Residency Program, and Luming Li, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Medical Director of Quality Improvement at Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, were among seven psychiatrists that worked to develop the curriculum, with Wasser also serving as one of the course directors.
The free peer-reviewed curriculum was a collaboration between the APA and American Association for Psychiatric Administration and Leadership (AAPAL). Wasser and Li currently serve on the AAPAL executive council as President-Elect and Councilor, respectively.
The Physician Leadership Program is geared towards early career psychiatrists who may be taking on administrative roles for the first time, or more experienced psychiatrists interested in brushing up on their leadership skills. The program will introduce learners to important elements of leadership training in a practical and pragmatic manner.
“The APA curriculum brings an opportunity and practical set of tools for those interested in physician leadership to learn about important components of psychiatric leadership role,” Li said. “I was delighted to be one of the faculty involved, and hope that many early career psychiatrists, residents/fellows, and interested colleagues find the materials helpful toward their career development.”
Wasser added: “We were honored that the APA reached out to us to help develop this innovative curriculum. We hope that the course is a useful building block in trainees’ and early career psychiatrists’ leadership development.”
The program’s learning objectives are to identify various components of leadership in psychiatry, outline important career dynamics to consider when presented with leadership opportunities in psychiatry, improve capacity to function as a psychiatric leader, identify avenues for further career development, apply physician leadership techniques, including negotiation, quality improvement, financial management, and leadership theory to daily work and future career as a physician in leadership
There are five modules for the curriculum: career development and negotiation; leadership theory; influence and working within a system; fiscal management in healthcare; and quality improvement and leading change.