Training and retaining mental health professionals: The Romanian experience in the European Union

Background Romania has been a member of the European Union since 2007. According to the World Health Organization, the national burden of mental disorders is high, with 2743.69 disability-adjusted life years per 100.000 population. Moreover, in a country of 19 million people, Romania's mental health system is currently functioning at capacity, with 5.66 adult psychiatrists/100.000 population and only 0.56 child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) doctors per 100.000 population. Method we conducted a simple narrative review of the current literature on the topic of training of psychiatry trainees in Romania. Results Undergraduate training consists of only 4 weeks of clinical and theoretical work for adult and CAP. Psychiatry postgraduate training lasts 5 years and is still duration-oriented. Psychiatric trainees mostly spend their clinical work in inpatient units due to the scarcity of other services or the lack of integration of training programs in the existing psychiatric services. Theoretical training is not nationally formalized, and, during training, yearly assessments tend to be neglected. An ongoing challenge in Romania has been retaining young career psychiatrists. Conclusion Although in a trend toward improvement of health services, "brain drain" has been and continues to be a massive phenomenon among Romanian psychiatrists, mainly driven to Western-European countries due to financial reasons, various shortcomings in overall infrastructure, and because of the lack of continuous professional and personal development opportunities. As the world is currently facing an unprecedented mental health crisis, steps must be taken to improve psychiatric training, retain psychiatrists in Romania, and provide better national mental health services.