New forms of psychiatric education: the Geneva experience

This paper briefly describes and discusses transformations in undergraduate and postgraduate training implemented over the last five years at the Depa rtment of Psychiatry, Geneva University Medical School. A new curriculum for undergraduate medical education was developed emphasiz ing problem resolution-oriented discussions in small groups. We describe th e educational objectives that had been set for the teaching of psychiatry i n response to a survey of general practitioners and residents on what psych iatric education medical students should receive to acquire the abilities a nd attitudes necessary for a general practitioner. Both doctors and student s in Geneva agreed on the importance of the doctor-patient relationship, id entification and management of the principal psychiatric disorders and thei r associated risks, and problems of a psychosocial nature. We aslo examined the psychiatric ideology and clinical practices of Swiss p sychiatrists in order to decide how postgraduate training programmes might be improved. The advantages and disadvantages inherent in the new training programmes ar e discussed. We end our reflections with the question of who teaches psychi atry in Geneva, discussing results of a survey on the workload of our psych iatrists and we outline the need to modify procedures for training the trai ners.