Academic psychiatry: an international, innovative specialty.

Academic Psychiatry has devoted the current issue to papers from various nations across the world. As we become more interconnected and interdependent, it is desirable for psychiatric educators to share innovative educational programming among international institutions. Beyond the value of learning novel approaches, appreciation of the practice of psychiatry in different nations enriches the cultural experience in patient care and education. In recent years, Academic Psychiatry has emphasized its desired role to be truly international and to support academic psychiatrists everywhere (1, 2). Bidirectional flow of educational ideas and initiatives (indeed, “multidirectional” flow may be a more accurate term) through the journal is highly desirable to support psychiatric educational needs in every country (3). Certain areas of clinical care and education (such as cultural psychiatry) may well be better advanced when embedded in an international perspective. As part of its role in promoting “world literature” in psychiatric education, the journal will continue to attract, mentor, and promote international authorship. This issue reflects recent efforts to include the global academic psychiatry community. Active engagement of international colleagues and trainees represents a high-priority growth opportunity for the editorial mission of the journal. The articles in this issue construct a tableau showcasing five aspects of international psychiatry coincident with the mission of the journal: 1) psychiatric education; 2) clinical aspects of cultural adaptation; 3) psychiatric practice in other medical specialties; 4) physician health; and 5) global clinical experience. Psychiatric Education Academic psychiatrists often assume leadership roles in psychiatric education, and investigating international approaches to pedagogy can enhance training experiences for educators and trainees alike. Several papers in the current issue address methodological issues in psychiatric education and touch on similar themes that are challenges in many psychiatric educational settings: the evaluation and application of evidence-based teaching methods in various cultures, the objective assessment of perceptions of and attitudes toward psychiatric illness and psychiatry, analysis of academic mentorship, and the establishment of psychiatric curricula in developing nations. Zahid et al. (4) report on their experience from Kuwait in implementing an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in the undergraduate psychiatry clerkship. This intervention is in keeping with a worldwide trend toward more experiential, competency-based, clinical skills examination procedures (5). The authors followed two consecutive student cohorts, one before and one after the curriculum change, representing a real-world “quasiexperiment.” There was no decrement in overall student test scores after this change. As most students will go on to other specialties, it is notable that the authors prominently included the psychosomatic medicine topics of cognitive impairment and delirium as OSCE station topics. Shankar et al. (6) used questions derived from the Attitudes to Psychiatry Scale (APS) in a commingled sample of 549 medical students from Ghana and India. They found that themes of inspiration from medical school, the stigma of psychiatry, the scientific basis of psychiatry, and the perceived effectiveness of psychiatric treatment were all important factors in students’ perceptions of psychiatry, suggesting that educators may wish to address these areas directly in educational programming. Psychiatric academics may consider adopting a “multipronged” approach to facilitate students’ appreciation of psychiatric illness, clinical practice, and residency training to Received April 11, 2011; revised April 20, July 21, July 28, 2011; accepted August 30, 2011. From the Faculty of Medicine, Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, McMaster University, St. Joseph’s Health Services, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Correspondence, Dr. Bourgeois: [email protected] (e-mail). Copyright © 2011 Academic Psychiatry