Quo vadis, psychiatry? Problems and potential for the future of medical student education in psychiatry

Psychiatric education occupies a relatively low status level in most academ ic departments of psychiatry. This problem may be in part because career te achers rarely generate sustained external grant support. Their salaries may be regarded as perpetual drains on the budgets of department chairs. The a uthor explores a possible relationship between the decline in the emphasis on psychiatric education and the decline in the number of medical students entering psychiatric residency programs. Recommendations for improvement in the support of psychiatric education are made that focus on greater accoun tability of how tuition fees are distributed to support the salaries of fac ulty educators. The unique role that consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry occupies in psychiatric education, the effects of managed care on C-L psych iatry and the special problems that C-L psychiatry currently faces with its strong emphasis on nonreimbursable educational activities are discussed. R evitalization of the importance of education in undergraduate medical educa tion is vital for the future of psychiatry.