Core Competencies for Psychiatric Education: Defining, Teaching, and Assessing Resident Competence

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education endorsed six General and five Psychiatric Competencies to be attained by psychiatric residents. As a result, these General (Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Practice-Based Learning and Improvement, Interpersonal and Communication Skills, Professionalism, and Systems-Based Practice) and Psychiatric (Brief Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Combined With Psychopharmacology, and Supportive Therapy) Competencies are now being phased in for all core residency training programs in the United States.

This volume, coauthored by the director and the associate director of general psychiatric residency education at Baylor College of Medicine, is a practical guide for educators working to incorporate the Competencies into their residency programs. It will help training directors and others involved in designing and implementing residency programs to ensure that residents develop all of the Competencies to the level expected of a new practitioner, as required by ACGME. The book - Lists the specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes that must be taught for each of the Competencies and provides example components for each. (These lists were developed by various groups of experts.) - Describes techniques for effectively providing feedback to residents. (Chapter titles include "How Residents Learn and Develop Competence" and "How to Assess Learning and Competence.") - Includes example goals and objectives for didactic courses and rotations, as well as ACGME's Toolbox of Assessment Methods(c). - Offers handy "to-do" lists for the program director, rotation coordinator, and course director, as well as an appendix section that contains forms for verifying resident experience, evaluating psychotherapy supervision, conducting semiannual evaluations, and evaluating residents' progress.

Core Competencies for Psychiatric Education is an indispensable guide for anyone trying to learn how best to teach and assess competency-based psychiatric curricula.

Linda Boerger Andrews, M.D., is Director of Residency Education, General Psychiatry Residency Program, and Assistant Dean in the Office of Student Affairs at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

John William Burruss, M.D., is Associate Director of Residency Education, General Psychiatry Residency Program, and Chief of Psychiatry at Ben Taub General Hospital at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.