title: A strategic approach to the psychiatric workforce dilemma.
abstract: To help build consensus in the field of psychiatry about future psychiatric manpower needs, a 13-step strategic approach to the workforce issue is described. The steps include recognizing the importance of the assumptions that underlie workforce requirements; selecting credible and professional leadership with vision and courage; adopting a strategic plan to clarify workforce assumptions; re-examining the structure and function of established programs; preparing trainees for work in the 21st century; preserving psychiatry's humanistic tradition; enlisting the support of nonacademic psychiatrists; and reinforcing involvement in the fiscal and political aspects of medicine. They also include focusing attention on important policy issues; securing the support of patients, families, and advocates; endorsing a multidisciplinary, biopsychosocial approach to the evaluation and treatment of mental illness; minimizing divisive conflicts within and between national organizations; and developing strategic alliances with other medical disciplines. Implications of the 13-step approach are outlined for psychiatric clinicians, educators, and researchers, as well as for the organizations that serve them.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia 29208, USA. faulkner@med.sc.edu
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Faulkner
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Scully
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Shore
mesh_terms: D004501:Education, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration; D006285:Health Planning / Q000379:methods; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D011057:Politics; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000458:organization & administration; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce