Objective: The authors present what is to their knowledge the first description of a model for longitudinal third-year medical student psychiatry education. Method: A longitudinal, integrated psychiatric curriculum was developed, implemented, and sustained within the Harvard Medical School-Cambridge Integrated Clerkship. Curriculum elements…

Objective: Psychiatric care in many rural communities has been demonstrated to be less adequate compared with urban environments partially because of attitudes and stigmatization issues. Educated pharmacists with professional attitudes can have a major impact in helping mental health patients receive more accurate diagnostic assessments and safe…

Objective: To address the issue of how much psychiatric residents should be taught about older medications. Methods: Selective use of the literature, including historical overview, was employed to compare and contrast old and newer generation medications. Results: While many old drugs are truly antiquated, medications such as typical…

Objective: To consider the limited usefulness of expert guidelines for teaching psychopharmacology. Method: Potential problems using expert guidelines for teaching psychopharmacology are reviewed. Results: Expert guidelines are an important contribution to the growth of evidence-based psychiatry. As such, they may also be used to teach…

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the educational and ethical issues involved in interactions between departments of psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry. METHODS: The author analyzes the history of attitudes toward pharmaceutical companies, various conflicting ethical principles that apply, and areas of confluence and conflict of interest between…

An approach to the use of computer assisted instruction (CAI) for teaching psychopharmacology is presented. A project is described in which, using the TUTOR programing language on the PLATO IV computer system, several computer programs were developed to demonstrate the concepts of aminergic transmitters in the central nervous system. Response…

Objective: Facility in psychopharmacology is a major goal of psychiatric residency. This study assesses the adequacy of pharmacotherapy provided to depressed patients in a resident clinic. Methods: Charts of all 285 patients seen in an outpatient triage clinic during 2000 were reviewed. One hundred twelve patients had diagnoses of major…

Objective: To review the current status of psychopharmacology education for medical students, residents, and practitioners in psychiatry and other specialties. Methods: A search of the MEDLINE and PsychInfo data bases was conducted using four keywords: pharmacology, psychopharmacology, teaching, and student. Additional references were obtained…