Teaching the APA Practice Guidelines to psychiatry residents: a novel strategy

In anticipation that the APA Practice Guidelines will find broad acceptance in clinical practice, the authors introduced the guidelines into their psychiatry residency curriculum. Small resident teams were used to cross-teach the essential material to each other. Thirty-seven residents participated in an 18-month trainee-led teaching program. Nine resident teams were constructed, one for each of the Practice Guidelines available at the time. Every other Friday, the residents from one guideline team presented it to the other residents at site lunchtime meetings. A pre- and post-study examination, assessing knowledge of the content of the guidelines, was administered to 27 residents. Each resident showed statistically significant increases in scores on the post-study test. A follow-up survey of resident attitudes about this teaching strategy revealed that it facilitated the learning process. Resident-led, small-group teaching may be an effective way to incorporate the APA Practice Guidelines into psychiatry curricula.