Forensic training in family practice residencies

Knowledge and skill in forensic medicine are important in primary care not only for defensive purposes but also because of potential therapeutic value in patient care. The major role in future mental health services envisioned for primary care physicians makes such training especially important. A national survey of family practice residency programs reveals that 47 percent of programs do not address forensic aspects of medical practice. A model forensic medicine curriculum is described that would require minimal adjustment of existing programs. The need for inclusion of forensically qualified clinicians in training programs for primary care physicians is evident.

Education and training in forensic psychiatry

The author has chaired a national committee dedicated to developing standards for training in forensic psychiatry; he discusses the results of his work over the past several years, presenting the advantages and disadvantages of on-the-job training and formal fellowship programs.

Residency curriculum in forensic psychiatry

The authors describe the development of a curriculum in forensic psychiatry in a general psychiatric residency training program. Educational objectives for both knowledge and skills are presented. The authors detail training experiences at each level of psychiatric residency, including electives available for fourth-year residents. They encourage other training programs to share similar reports with a view toward the development of standards in the training of residents in forensic psychiatry.

Planning community treatment for sex offenders

In California and in Great Britain plans are being made to move the treatment setting for many sex offenders from large state hospitals to community sites. The most useful aspects of the state hospital programs can be adapted to the community setting. In the proposed treatment centers, graded levels of security may include inpatient, half-way house, and outpatient facilities. The therapist will coordinate social and educational programs as well as psychiatric care. Optimally, the community treatment center will have university support so as to facilitate training in forensic psychiatry and research into the etiology and management of sexually aggressive behavior.

Present status of forensic psychiatry in Sweden

A description is given of the use and functions of mental reports preceding the sentence. The problems-- mainly the long waiting times for observations, the concentration on diagnosis, and the forensic psychiatrist's isolation from treatment work - associated with the present system are pointed out. The article also contains a brief account of psychiatric treatment within the penal system, inside and outside prisons, and a description of the Uppsala Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry, where the patients during observation for mental reports are treated in accordance with the ideas of "therapeutic community". A report, with recommendations for reforms, can be expected at the beginning of 1977.

The post-graduate education and training of consultant psychiatrists

This paper reports some aspects of a survey made of the training experiences of a group of recently appointed consultants in general psychiatry; it is the third such survey made by the author. The original enquiry was a postal one and asked about the training and education received by all consultants who had been appointed for the first time to a post in general psychiatry, with at least 6 N.H.S. sessions, between 1 October 1963 and 30 September 1969 (R.M.P.A., 1969). A second survey, using a questionnaire much modified from the first, was made of consultants appointed between 1 October 1966 and 30 September 1969, using the same criteria of eligibility as the first group (Brook, 1972, 1973). The present enquiry used a postal questionnaire almost identical to that used for the previous group, which was circulated to consultants in general psychiatry appointed between 1 October 1969 and 30 September 1972.