Psychiatric Skills and Knowledge for the General Practitioner: A Postgraduate Program for Psychiatry in Medical Practice

Since 1960, the University of Southern California School of Medicine has been conducting a program in continuing education in psychiatry for medical practitioners. Designed to help family doctors recognize and treat the majority of psychiatric illnesses, the program has emphasized case conferences and clinic courses in graduated levels of advancement. A physician, who so desires, can eventually learn to do psychotherapy in a supervised comprehensive clinic simulating conditions of a general medical practice. Continuous evaluative research is an integral part of the program. Characteristics of physician-enrollees are studied, cognitive learning gain is measured, and attitudes and behavior with patients are measured. The findings are fed back into the program to make the courses more useful and to interest more physicians in enrolling.