Commentary: core competencies and the training of psychiatric residents in therapeutic risk management

The treatment of patients who, due to their clinical presentation, pose potential liability risks to the psychiatrist is one of the more stressful aspects of modern psychiatric practice. The need to educate psychiatric residents about the principles of risk management that guide the safe provision of good patient care in such patients is paramount in the current malpractice environment. In this commentary, we discuss the teaching of therapeutic risk management, as described by authors Simon and Shuman, in general psychiatry residency, particularly as it can be integrated within the existing core competencies established by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). A model outline of this integration for suicide risk management within each of the existing core competencies is presented.