Clinical Skills and Education

Despite the high prevalence of psychiatric and behavioral problems in primary care, many physicians receive little training in psychiatry. A model curriculum has been developed for the Federated Council for Internal Medicine Task Force on the Internal Medicine Residency Curriculum. A detailed description of the curriculum was outlined by Steven A. Cole and colleagues (General Hospital Psychiatry 17, 13-18,1995). The curriculum roughly is divided into knowledge and skills objectives. The knowledge objectives involve diagnosing and treating mental disorders as well as familiarity with application of the biopsychosocial model. The skills objectives involve clinical interviewing and basic psychotherapeutic interventions (e.g. emotional support, basic behavioral interventions). Three recent publications significantly contribute to the literature for teaching clinical interviewing skills, a major part of the psychiatric skills objectives.