Psychiatric Bulletin (2004) 28: 23-24. doi: 10.1192/pb.28.1.23-b
© 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Bulletin (2004) 28: 23-24
© 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Pre-registration house officer training in psychiatry
John Birtchnell, Honorary Senior Lecturer
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
I was struck by Rebecca Mason's claim (Psychiatric Bulletin,
October 2003, 27, 394-395) that, in 1981, she was involved in one of
the first pre-registration house officer posts in psychiatry in this country.
In fact, in 1960, at the Sefton General Hospital in Liverpool, I held the post
of pre-registration house physician in psychiatry for 9 months. Next, I moved
to Walton Hospital, also in Liverpool, where I was a pre-registration house
surgeon in neurosurgery and following this, in the same hospital, I held the
post of senior house officer in neurology. From then on, I did nothing but
psychiatry. I have never held a general medical or a general surgical post and
I have never regretted this. Even as an undergraduate, I was passionately
interested in psychiatry, and I took every opportunity that came my way to
gain additional experience in it. I have always held the view that psychiatry
is a profession in its own right, and that its true foundations are psychology
and neurology. Psychiatry is becoming ever more influenced by these two areas
of study, and we should be directing prospective psychiatrists towards them
and away from general medicine.