Subspecialty Training Requirements in

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

2016
EDITORIAL REVISION APRIL 2019
VERSION 2.1

These training requirements apply to those who begin training on or after July 1st, 2016.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Royal College certification in Psychiatry or enrolment in a Royal College accredited
Psychiatry residency program (see requirements for these qualifications). All candidates
must be certified in Psychiatry in order to be eligible to write the Royal College certification
examination in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

MINIMUM TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

Twenty-four (24) months of approved residency in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. This
period must include:
1. At least eighteen (18) months of clinical training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
which must include:
1.1. Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
At least six (6) months or equivalent longitudinal experience in inpatient clinical
training. This must be undertaken in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry inpatient
services or equivalent general/specialized child and adolescent inpatient services.
Up to three (3) months may take place in child and adolescent psychiatric
residential services.

1.2. Ambulatory Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

At least six (6) months or equivalent longitudinal ambulatory experience in a
minimum of three (3) different hospital or community-based settings. Each
experience must be a minimum of one (1) month in duration. These experiences
may include:
1.2.1. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinics
1.2.2. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry day treatment programs
1.2.3. Provision of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry consultation-liaison to
inpatient/outpatient pediatric services
1.2.4. Provision of direct and indirect patient or program consultation to:
schools; correctional programs; or child, adolescent, and family mental
health services, such as residential services, group/foster homes, family
health teams, or community-based children’s mental health agencies

© 2016 The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. All rights reserved.
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Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Referenced and produced with permission. Please forward a copy of the final product to the Office of Specialty Education, attn: Associate Director,
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 SUBSPECIALTY TRAINING REQUIREMENTS IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY (2016)
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1.3. Senior resident experience

At least six (6) months of clinical training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry must
occur within the final year of subspecialty training in which the trainee is regularly
entrusted with the responsibility for care of patients, including those with the most
complex and difficult problems in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. This will not
include those rotations that may be taken outside of, but are related to, Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry.

1.4. Emergency care

Regular opportunity for and experience in emergency/urgent assessment and care
of children and youth in a minimum concurrent longitudinal experience equivalent
to one (1) month’s duration.

2. Selectives
Up to six (6) months of selectives may be done at any point during the twenty-four (24)
months of approved residency.
2.1. Clinical
Each rotation must be a minimum of one (1) month in duration. These rotations
may include:
2.1.1. Addictions
2.1.2. Adolescent Medicine
2.1.3. Developmental disabilities
2.1.4. Forensic Psychiatry
2.1.5. Neuroimaging
2.1.6. Neurology
2.1.7. Pediatrics
2.1.8. Transitional age youth psychiatry
2.1.9. Other elective, as approved by the program director

2.2. Other
Up to the equivalent of six (6) months of focused training relevant to the Scholar,
Manager, or other CanMEDS Roles may be done as a horizontal or longitudinal
experience. Each experience must be no less than the equivalent of one (1) month
in duration. This may include:
2.2.1. Health care delivery
2.2.2. Research
2.2.3. Teaching
2.2.4. Educational scholarship
2.2.5. Administration

© 2016 The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. All rights reserved.

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 SUBSPECIALTY TRAINING REQUIREMENTS IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY (2016)
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NOTES:

1. “Approved” means approved by the trainee’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry program
director and the Royal College.

2. Rotations are “selectives” when the resident has a predefined list of choices from which
to complete a defined period of training. The resident selects which rotations are
completed, but the Subspecialty Training Requirements document defines the time
allotment and limits the variety of rotations from which the resident may choose.

A rotation is “elective” when the resident is able to choose any learning experience of
interest, with the approval of the program director.

3. Up to twelve (12) months of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training may be

undertaken in fulfilment of the requirements for certification in Psychiatry with the
approval of the subspecialty program director. This training will not include the six (6)
months of core child and adolescent psychiatry required in Psychiatry.

4. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training includes a combination of rotation-based and

longitudinal experiences. These must be managed by the program in order to avoid a
fragmentation in the resident’s experience that would impede adequate exposure to the
integration of knowledge, skills, or attitudes. A longitudinal experience must be carefully
scheduled, apportioned, and approved. Approved longitudinal experiences in addition to
those which may be required for the six (6) months of higher training relevant to the
CanMEDS Roles of Scholar or Manager must not remove the resident from a distinct
rotational experience for more than one (1) day per week.

5. Concurrent and longitudinal training

In addition to the use of horizontal components as noted above, the training may
accommodate competency development through longitudinal experiences. These
experiences should be designed to integrate and enhance training in the companion
clinical rotation or horizontal component whose time it shares. Longitudinal training
issues are identified in clinical skills, administration, research, and education. They must
also be relevant to the practice of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and may include but
are not limited to:
a) Research (Scholar)
b) Psychotherapies (Medical Expert)
c) Psychopharmacology (Medical Expert)
d) Education (Scholar/Communicator)
e) Administration and leadership (Manager)
f) Public health, schools, primary care (Advocate)

With the approval of the residency program committee, the equivalent of up to one (1)
day per week may be devoted to these additional experiences. This must be
documented and evaluated separately from other rotations.

© 2016 The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. All rights reserved.

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 SUBSPECIALTY TRAINING REQUIREMENTS IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY (2016)
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CREDIT FOR TRAINING IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1. All candidates for the Royal College Child and Adolescent Psychiatry certification
examination must have Royal College certification in Psychiatry.
2. Graduates of a 4-year Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
program in Psychiatry and a 2-year ACGME program in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
will be eligible for the Royal College Child and Adolescent certification examination.
Graduates of either of the 5-year ACGME Psychiatry/Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
training routes will be eligible for the Royal College Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
certification examination upon completion of an additional minimum one (1) year of
training in an accredited program, constituted as advised by the Royal College following
a review of previous training experiences.

Graduates of either of the combined ACGME Pediatrics/Psychiatry/Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry training routes will not be eligible for the Royal College examination.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION

Royal College certification in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry requires all of the following:
1. Certification in Psychiatry;
2. Successful completion of a 2-year Royal College accredited program in Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry;
3. Participation in a scholarly project relevant to Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, as
attested by the program director;
4. Successful completion of the certification examination in Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry.
The 2-year program outlined above is to be regarded as the minimum training requirement.
Additional year(s) of training may be required by the program director to ensure that clinical
competence has been achieved.

Adopted – 2011
Revised – Specialty Committee in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – September 2015
Approved – Specialty Standards Review Committee – November 2015
Revised (prior to final dissemination) – Specialty Committee in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – April 2016
Approved – Office of Specialty Education – June 2016
Revised – Specialty Committee – October 2017
Approved (editorial revisions) – Office of Specialty Education – April 2019

© 2016 The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. All rights reserved.

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