Introducing community-based care of the chronically ill into residency education

Few departments have the resources to support an ideal program in community psychia-try. In this article, the authors discuss the difficulties and benefits of introducing long-term community-based treatment of the chronically mentally ill into a residency program with limited resources of time and personnel The residents initially were fearful of the program and tended to avoid its unique community aspects. The authors describe haw they dealt with these problems and haw the program evolved into a well-accepted part of the residency aver its first 4 years of operation. The authors conclude that, even on a time budget of 4 to 6 hours weekly, residents can have a meaningful learning experience in community-based care of the chronically mentally ill.