Teaching psychiatry to primary care internists.
Many patients who seek the care of primary care physicians are suffering from a wide variety of psychiatric disorders. Primary care physicians should become skilled in interviewing techniques and basic psychiatric differential diagnosis, management, and treatment approaches for some types of psychiatric disorders and learn to regularly consult with and make referrals to psychiatrists when appropriate. Psychiatrists should play a very active role in the education of primary care specialists. This should include observation of the physician interviewing patients with different types of psychiatric disorders in addition to didactic teaching and supervision on topics such as psychopharmacology. With mutual collaboration between primary care interests and psychiatrists the patients of both groups of physicians should receive better care and continuing education of both may occur through an ongoing dialogue.
D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education*