Samantha Macino, APRN-CNP, and Emily Best, APRN-CNP, were part of Akron Children’s first cohort for its APRN fellowship program in pediatric psychiatry and behavioral health.
Akron Children’s APRN Pediatric Psychiatric Fellowship Program was recently awarded accreditation status by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. This premier accreditation for Advanced Practice Provider (APP) fellowship programs demonstrates excellence in supporting the transition of APRNs and physician assistants into new practice settings. Akron Children’s is the first psychiatric pediatric fellowship program in the nation to receive the Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship accreditation (APPFA)TM.
According to Jenny Michel, director of the Advanced Practice Center, “Psychiatric Mental Health (PMHAPRN) programs are focused on providing training to treat patients across the lifespan. Upon graduation, APPs may have had very little clinical experience working with the pediatric population.”
The goal of Akron Children’s fellowship is to serve as an extension of a traditional program. This provides fellows the opportunity to learn alongside experienced providers and the rest of the health care team, so they can better understand the unique needs and challenges of caring for pediatric patients.
“As part of their one-year fellowship, fellows collaborate with other behavioral health providers and immerse themselves in other pediatric specialties and rotations, such as adolescent medicine, gender affirming medicine and addiction medicine to help support their clinical practice as a provider in behavioral health,” Jenny said.
“The goal of the fellowship is to help Akron Children’s recruit and retain high-quality candidates to expand mental health services across all of our locations throughout the region,” said Laura Abels, advanced practice education coordinator. “There is a provider shortage in pediatric psychiatry across the country, and having a program that attracts talent to Akron Children’s is a great way to ensure we’re filling open positions and patients have access to the care they need.”
“Being accredited ensures the quality of our program and means our curriculum meets national standards,” Jenny added. “We have an excellent onboarding program for all newly hired APPs. Fellows receive an extended onboarding and orientation experience beyond what our new APPs at Akron Children’s are currently receiving.”
Psychiatric mental health fellows are fully employed at Akron Children’s and credentialed as members of the medical staff when they begin the fellowship program. In its first year, the program had two APP fellows. In its second year, the program had 3 fellows and is currently beginning the third cohort of APP fellows with 2 newly graduated PMHAPRNs.
Akron Children’s pediatric psychiatric/mental health providers treat patients presenting with various behavioral and emotional conditions in a variety of settings including inpatient, outpatient and emergency, and provide consultation services when needed. Mental health services include medication management, educational consultation and testing, psychological testing, individual and family counseling. The Psychiatric Intake Response Center (PIRC) is a service provided collaboratively through Akron Children’s emergency room for patients experiencing acute mental or behavioral health problems.
Learn more about Akron Children’s Psychiatric Mental Health APRN Fellowship program and other APRN graduate student experiences.
