[Trainee psychiatrists in residence need to be taught interactions skills]

Trainee psychiatrists can find themselves in interactions where there is practically no collaboration with patients, their relatives, members of the treatment team and supervisors. A psychiatrist needs to be competent in establishing working relationships in complex situations and should be proficient in safeguarding professional boundaries.

To evaluate the interaction skills training for first-year psychiatrist in residence at hospitals and clinics forming part of the East Netherlands Consortium. METHODS All trainee psychiatrists in residence were asked to complete two evaluation forms concerning the suitability of the skills training course, the first directly after the course ended and the second at follow-up 1 to 3 years later.

The training was rated highly directly after the training (n=42, average 7.8) (scale 0-10) and at follow-up (n=23, average 7.7) (scale 0-10). 17 of the 23 respondents at follow-up stated that they felt the need for a refresher training course.

The interaction skills training is greatly appreciated and satisfies the need of first-year psychiatrists to acquire the competence and skills that are important in complex situations.