Psychiatric education: state of the art, 1976

The authors describe an extraordinary review of 527 programs in 205 institutions conducted by the Psychiatry Education Branch of NIMH. Each institution was evaluated by 2 site visitors, whose findings were reviewed by a group of 12 special consultants. These consultants voted on approval of grant applications and assigned priorities to those which were approved. Direct results of the review included approval of 69% of the programs, increased support of programs in medical student education, consultation-liaison psychiatry, and psychiatric investigation, but a decrease in the total number of institutions supported. Indirect results were the encouragement of self-evaluation in each program reviewed, the valuable exchange of ideas among the educators involved in the review process, and implications for future reviews. The authors, who believe that psychiatric education is in good health, discuss the findings of this review in terms of the future of the field.