Educational opportunities and inpatient psychiatry

Despite inpatient psychiatry's longstanding role as a mainstay of psychiatric training, very little attention has been directed toward the educational opportunities of inpatient work. Experience rather than research has been our guide. Together with a brief history of inpatient psychiatry, the educational aspects of this setting have been discussed. The results of an informal survey supplement the text. We conclude with several educational concerns currently developing as a natural result of the ever-changing face of our profession. Our aim has been to provide a serious consideration of the issues and we invite our readers to expand upon or disagree with any or all of our contentions. We trust our ultimate goals are the same: to provide our profession with a steady supply of competent teachers, researchers and clinicians. Our patients can only benefit from this endeavor.