Mental health education in three primary care specialties

The authors used a questionnaire to examine the characteristics of the mental health components of residency training in traditional internal medicine, primary care internal medicine, and family practice. Traditional internal medicine programs relied almost exclusively on the consultation method and inpatient facilities, offered little formal instruction, used the psychiatrist as the primary teacher, and spent considerably less per resident for mental health training than the other programs. Psychologists and social workers as a group were the primary mental health teachers in family medicine residencies. Traditional internal medicine programs emphasized psychophysiological reactions and simple pharmacotherapy, while primary care internal medicine and family practice programs concentrated on life cycle issues, psychosocial awareness, and simple psychosocial management techniques. None of the three types of residencies focused on complex psychiatric disorders or management techniques. The three specialties differed significantly (F = 13, p = .0001) in the total amount of time on average the resident spent in formal mental health instruction. The need for evaluation of the outcome of training is also discussed.