Who is teaching psychopharmacology? Who should be teaching psychopharmacology?

Teaching Psychopharmacology in the Medically Ill: A Problem-Based Learning Card Game for Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Didactics

INTRODUCTION

Our educational report discusses a unique card game that provides an engaging, and competitive strategy for teaching psychopharmacology in the medically ill. It engages the players and helps them learn how to justify medical decisions in the context of complicated medical comorbidity.

METHODS

We describe a problem-based learning approach where learners are presented with randomized diagnoses and complications and are then forced to make prescription decisions for treatment from a limited and randomized supply of medication cards. Each round is facilitated by the teacher, who engages the teams and/or individual players in discussions regarding the rationale and justification of the medication decisions. These treatment plans are scored according to the appropriateness of the medication choice and the process is repeated.

DISCUSSION

The game is flexible regarding players' levels of education and has been played by medical students, psychiatry residents, and fellows throughout their years of training. Overall feedback has been positive from facilitators and trainees and the game has been a valuable source of engaging learners in the process of making complex medication decisions in the medically ill.

Psychopharmacology Prescribing Workshops: A Novel Method for Teaching Psychiatry Residents How to Talk to Patients About Medications

OBJECTIVE

Traditional, lecture-based methods of teaching pharmacology may not translate into the skills needed to communicate effectively with patients about medications. In response, the authors developed an interactive course for third-year psychiatry residents to reinforce prescribing skills.

METHODS

Residents participate in a facilitated group discussion combined with a role-play exercise where they mock-prescribe medication to their peers. Each session is focused on one medication or class of medications with an emphasis on various aspects of informed consent (such as describing the indication, dosing, expected benefits, potential side effects, and necessary work-up and follow up). In the process of implementing the course at a second site, the original format was modified to include self-assessment measures and video examples of experienced faculty members prescribing to a simulated patient.

RESULTS

The course was initially developed at one site and has since been disseminated to a number of other institutions. Between 2010 and 2016, 144 residents participated in the course at the authors' two institutions. Based upon pre/post surveys conducted with a subset of residents, the course significantly improved comfort with various aspects of prescribing. Although residents may also gain comfort in prescribing with experience (as the course coincides with the major outpatient clinical training year), improvement in comfort-level was also noted for medications that residents had relatively little experience initiating. At the end of the year, half of the residents indicated the course was one of their top three preferred methods for learning psychopharmacology in addition to direct clinical experience and supervision (with none listing didactics).

CONCLUSION

An interactive prescribing workshop can improve resident comfort with prescribing and may be preferred over a traditional, lecture-based approach. The course may be particularly helpful for those medications that are less commonly used. Based upon our experience, this approach can be easily implemented across institutions..

A proposal for a psychopharmacology-pharmacotherapy catalogue of learning objectives and a curriculum in Europe

Objectives Post-graduate training for specialisation in psychiatry and psychotherapy is part of a 4-6-year programme. This paper aims to inform on the general situation of teaching and training of psychopharmacology-psychopharmacotherapy in Europe. It presents the need for a psychopharmacotherapy education in psychiatric training programmes. Arguments as well as a proposal for a catalogue of learning objectives and an outline of a psychopharmacology curriculum are presented. Methods Based on their experience and on an analysis of the literature, the authors, experts in psychopharmacology-pharmacotherapy teaching, critically analyse the present situation and propose the development of a curriculum at the European level. Results Teaching programmes vary widely between European countries and, generally, teaching of psychopharmacology and pharmacotherapy does not exceed two-dozen hours. This is insufficient if one considers the central importance of psychopharmacology. A psychopharmacology-psychopharmacotherapy curriculum for the professional training of specialists in psychiatry and psychotherapy is proposed. Conclusions As the number of hours of theoretical teaching and practical training is insufficient, a catalogue of learning objectives should be established, which would then be part of a comprehensive curriculum at the European level. It could be inspired partly by those few previously proposed by other groups of authors and organisations.