STRATEGIC ISSUES FOR THE SUCCESSFUL MERGER OF RESIDENCY TRAINING-PROGRAMS

Retrenchments in federal financing, more stringent residency accredita tion standards, fewer psychiatric residents, and other factors are put ting increased pressure on psychiatric residency training programs to collaborate with or even merge with other residency programs. To impro ve the likelihood that a collaboration or merger of psychiatric reside ncies will work, administrators must address such issues as educationa l philosophy, goals of education and training, governance of the combi ned program, the impact on faculty and trainees, and the separate inst itutional cultures. Experiences from the merger of the residency progr ams at the Institute of Living and the University of Connecticut illus trate some of the factors.