State hospital-university collaborations: a 25-year follow-up

A formative survey of psychiatry departments 25 years ago showed strong and valued relationships between these departments and state hospitals. The authors sought to evaluate the extent of present-day collaborative relationships.

A repeat of a similar survey was sent in 2005 to 119 chairs of departments of psychiatry.

Fifty-eight of 119 chairs (49% response rate) participated. A sustained high level of programmatic partnership was still observed, with 75% of respondents reporting ongoing administrative relationships. Seventy-four percent of respondents reported ongoing residency training relationships.

These findings suggest that strong state-university collaborations have prevailed over the past 25 years despite major changes for academic health care and psychiatry residency training during this period.