The flight surgeon and psychiatry: interest and skills

Much of the flight surgeon's day-to-day clinical practice involves the use of psychiatric skills in the assessment and management of the problems of flyers and their families. Folklore holds that among nonpsychiatrists, the older, more experienced, nontrainee clinician is more interested in and knowledgeable about the psychiatric aspects of his practice. We studied this assumption in 170 flight surgeons who varied in age, experience, and whether or not they were presently in training or had already completed training in flight medicine. Measures of interest in psychiatry and self-assessed ability in seven areas of psychiatric skills and knowledge were obtained. Results indicate that age and experience are unrelated to interest in psychiatry, while being in training has a significant negative impact. Self-assessed ability is significantly related to training status, age, and experience. The flight surgeon's subjective assessment of needing further education was increased by being in a training status, but unaffected by age or experience.