Lessons from psychiatry and psychiatric education for medical learners and teachers

A Historical Review of Key Events and Components of Faculty and Professional Development in Psychiatry

Psychiatry's evolution has entailed clinical, educational, research, and administrative missions. Faculty development efforts concern ways in which professional identity, attitudes and skills are transmitted and enhanced from generation to generation. Top-down efforts by national and international organizations and bottom-up movements by individuals in numerous local settings have helped faculty and guided the profession forward. Organizations have provided new faculty with access to mentors and peers across the country, training opportunities, and up-to-date information on emerging scientific, pedagogical, and regulatory trends. Additional innovations and evaluation regarding best practices for faculty development initiatives in psychiatry are needed.

Defining Professional Development in Medicine, Psychiatry, and Allied Fields

Professional development refers to training, formal education, and/or advanced professional learning intended to help clinicians, teachers, researchers, and administrators improve their professional knowledge and effectiveness. Institutions have been trying to adapt to a rapidly changing internal and external environment, with resource constraints and competitive health care. Professional development may be contextualized using adult development, educational, and organizational perspectives, and most best practices overlap. Key partners are faculty, departments, institutions, and national organizations. Interprofessional, team-based and project-based longitudinal initiatives may ignite educational innovations, and serve as a method to learn authentically in the workplace, promote socialization, and change attitudes.

A Framework of Interprofessional Telebehavioral Health Competencies: Implementation and Challenges Moving Forward

Interprofessional telebehavioral health (TBH) competencies have been developed to standardize training and improve the quality of TBH care. The seven identified interprofessional TBH competency domains and three levels of expertise (novice, proficient, and authority) are briefly described. More in depth descriptions and examples of several of the competency domains are presented to illustrate what the competencies look like in practice. Some of the challenges faced in using such a competency framework are discussed.

Telepsychiatry: Effective, Evidence-Based, and at a Tipping Point in Health Care Delivery?

Patient-centered health care questions how to deliver quality, affordable, and timely care in a variety of settings. Telemedicine empowers patients, increases administrative efficiency, and ensures expertise gets to the place it is most needed--the patient. Telepsychiatry or telemental health is effective, well accepted, and comparable to in-person care. E-models of care offer variety, flexibility, and positive outcomes in most settings, and clinicians are increasingly interested in using technology for care, so much so that telepsychiatry is now being widely introduced around the world.