The World Psychiatry Exchange Program: expanding the world of early career psychiatrists

Global development seems to have openness to the world as a prerequisite. In psychiatry, this intercultural dialogue is particularly relevant, considering the diversity in illness manifestations and classifications ¹ and the growing number of diasporas around the world ² . Although early career psychiatrists have been calling for overseas training to acquire global health competencies, accessing such opportunities remains a challenge for many.

With this in mind, the WPA Section of Early Career Psychiatrists has proposed, in line with the WPA Action Plan 2020‐2023 ³ , ⁴ , ⁵ , the organization of an exciting new initiative: the World Psychiatry Exchange Program ⁶ . This is an innovative project as there was not previously any worldwide exchange program for psychiatrists. The concept is straightforward: to offer early career psychiatrists worldwide free exchange programs overseas. At an early stage of their career, participants get valuable exposure to different mental health systems, illness manifestations and treatment options, and ways of working in mental health care. Participants are able to observe in clinics and attend educational meetings, teaching sessions or research activities, according to the plan offered by the host institution, and also have the opportunity to socialize with colleagues from another country. Hosts gain insights and perspectives from enthusiastic early career psychiatrists, eager to learn about different cultures and ways of practising psychiatry ⁷ .

In October 2021, the Section opened the first call for applications. Further to the traveling restrictions imposed by the COVID‐19 pandemic, we offered both options of face‐to‐face and remote exchanges. We started the first edition by announcing placements in different parts of the world, including Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Iran, New Zealand, Tunisia and the UK. We received 49 applications from early career psychiatrists (age 25‐44) based in Africa (N=28, 57%), Asia (N=11, 23%), Europe (N=9, 18%) and America (N=1, 2%), of which 61% were psychiatry trainees and 39% psychiatrists who had become specialists since no more than seven years.

A total of 10 early career psychiatrists completed exchanges in 2022 in Asia (N=4), Europe (N=3), Africa (N=2), and Oceania (N=1). We collected feedback from these participants. A vast majority (90%) “completely agreed” with the statements that the application process was easy, that it was easy to communicate with their host local coordinator, and that they enjoyed the site where they completed the exchange (if attended in person). Several participants highlighted the “great opportunity to improve knowledge and experience” and being involved in “all clinical activities of the hospital”. Some also highlighted the opportunity to “discuss very interesting and complex cases” and the care of the hosts to translate patient interviews and seminar presentations to English when this was not the country's language. The academic experience, including networking opportunities, was highlighted for example as providing “magnificent interaction between neurology, cognitive sciences and psychiatry”. Some participants wrote a manuscript during or after the exchange, which got published with them as first authors in scientific peer‐reviewed academic journals ⁸ , ⁹ . Remarkably, all participants said that they were happy they had completed the exchange and would recommend it to a friend.

To prepare for the second edition of the World Psychiatry Exchange Program, we made an open call at the end of 2022 for members of the Section and reached out to more departments and countries interested to host placements for this program. We are delighted to have new countries, such as Australia, India and Spain, offering placements to host early career psychiatrists in 2023.

The success of the World Psychiatry Exchange Program documents the value of international exchange programs for early career psychiatrists. The first edition of the program had a very positive outcome, with participants reporting positive experiences and the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills, and collaborative outputs for participants and hosts further to these exchanges. The program promoted the acquisition of transversal competencies and fostered the knowledge triangle of education, research and innovation. It was also a way of promoting formal and informal learning, encouraging networking, and establishing international partnerships ¹⁰ .

As we move forward with the second edition, we are excited to expand the program to other countries, offering even more opportunities for early career psychiatrists to gain valuable insights and perspectives. We hope that the World Psychiatry Exchange Program will continue to inspire and support the next generation of psychiatrists to expand their horizons and build meaningful connections across borders.