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Multi-professional training in psychiatry

North West Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team, 200 Sydney Road, Brunswick, Melbourne 3056, Victoria, Australia; e-mail: daniel.smith{at}nwhcn.org.au

Sir: I read with interest Bamforth et al's proposal for more multi-professional learning for psychiatry trainees (Psychiatric Bulletin, February 2000, 24, 72-73).

I am a psychiatry trainee from the UK currently working in Melbourne on a Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team. Apart from the consultant and registrar, the other members of the 10-person team come from non-medical back-grounds such as nursing, social work, occupational therapy and clinical psychology. Many have over 15 years' experience of working in mental health and as a result our daily discussions of patient management make use of a broad range of expertise. I have found this experience very instructive, particularly as the hierarchy of decision-making which prevails in the UK is largely unrecognised. Furthermore, non-medically trained clinicians often bring to discussions of management their experience of having worked in the past as patient advocates and case managers.

Medical schools have begun to recognise the value of multi-agency involvement in teaching (Lennox & Peterson, 1998). I agree with the suggestion that psychiatry trainees would benefit if experienced nurses, occupational therapists, social workers and psychologists were given a more formal role in teaching.

References

LENNOX, L. & PETERSON, S. (1998) Development and evaluation of a community-based, multi-agency course for medical students: descriptive study. British Medical Journal, 316, 595-599.[Free Full Text]

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