On education in administrative psychiatry

Psychiatrists as treatment team leaders: pitfalls and rewards

The multidisciplinary treatment team has become a conventional component of inpatient psychiatric care delivery. Treatment team dynamics and their implications for the patient, the team members, the organization, and the team leader in particular have been generally understated in the training of psychiatrists, however, as has its value as a model for learning about administration. This article highlights the history and evolution of the multidisciplinary treatment team in psychiatry, the mix of mental health disciplines, philosophies, and roles involved, the characteristics of mental health care professionals, the conflicting manifest and latent work group tasks, and the dynamics and functions of team leadership. While reviewing information on which to base a systematic approach to team leadership, the author advocates for application of universal standards for education in administrative psychiatry including supervised leadership of multidisciplinary treatment teams and discussions of complimentary readings, examples of which are provided.

Residency education in administrative psychiatry : a national survey

In 1989, the authors surveyed all general psychiatry residency programs to assess the availability, extent, and emphasis of administrative teaching currently being offered during residency training. With a return rate of 74.5%, the results reveal that 69.5% of the respondents presently include administrative training within their curricula and 56% offer didactic teaching about administrative issues. These results are compared with a similar survey performed 10 years previously in which 85% of the respondents reported offering some administrative training but only 39% offered didactic instruction in this area. An analysis of these data and a review of proposed curricula for training in administration are provided.