University of Wisconsin–Madison Medical College of Wisconsin

Primary Care Clinicians’ Satisfaction and Clinical Confidence After Participation in the Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program

Jakob Anibas, BS; Cody Schreiner, MD; Jacob Elliot, MD; Amy Prunuske, PhD; Michelle Broaddus, PhD

WMJ. 2025;124(2):111-115

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ABSTRACT

Introduction: To help combat a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists and assist primary care providers in managing pediatric mental health care cases, the Medical College of Wisconsin established the Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program. The program provides educational support to primary care providers with mild to moderate pediatric mental health concerns via phone or email consultation with board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrists, as well as offering on-demand didactic training sessions and assistance locating therapeutic resources.

Objective: We sought to assess participating primary care clinicians’ satisfaction with consultations and their perceptions of program services, specifically its impact on self-reported diagnostic decision-making and patient outcomes.

Methods: Primary care providers’ responses to both post-consultation and annual surveys were analyzed to determine the program’s impact. Five survey questions used a 5-point Likert scale, and 1 “select-all-that-apply” question was included on the post-consultation survey.

Results: Overall, 99.2% of respondents were satisfied with their most recent consultation. Additionally, mean Likert scale scores assessing provider confidence after program enrollment in the areas of diagnosing (mean 3.7, SD 0.8), prescribing medications (mean 3.6, SD 0.9), and managing child mental health problems (mean 3.5, SD 0.9) were all significantly greater than provider confidence before enrollment (P < 0.0001 for all).

Conclusions: Our study revealed that most primary care providers utilizing the Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program find it a valuable resource for diagnostic decision-making and improving patient outcomes. This suggests that expanded utilization of the program should be encouraged.


Author Affiliations: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Anibas); Medical College of Wisconsin-Central Wisconsin, Wausau, Wisconsin (Schreiner, Elliot, Prunuske); Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis (Broaddus).
Corresponding Author: Jakob Anibas, BS, email janibas@wisc.edu; ORCID ID 0000-0003-4419-096
Financial Disclosures: None declared.
Funding/Support: This work was supported by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, grant 435100-G22-148197-290, and Health Resource and Services Administration, Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program, U4CMC32324-04-01.
Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank Gabriella Hangiandreou, MD, for her review of the data and comments on the manuscript.
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