Abstract
Objective
As part of an effort to improve psychopharmacology training in psychiatric residency programs, a committee of residency training directors and associate directors adapted an introductory schizophrenia presentation from the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology’s Model Psychopharmacology Curriculum to develop a multimodal, interactive training module. This article describes the module, its development, and the results of a field trial to test its feasibility and usefulness.
Methods
Nineteen residency programs volunteered to use the module during the first half of the 2007–2008 academic year. Evaluation consisted of a structured phone interview with the training director or teaching faculty of participating programs during February and early March 2008, asking whether and how they used the curriculum, which components they found most useful, and how it was re]by faculty and residents.
Results
Of the 19 programs, 14 used the module and 13 participated in the evaluation. The most commonly used components were the pre- and postmodule questions, video-enhanced presentation, standard presentation, problem- or team-based teaching module, and other problem-based teaching modules. No two programs used the module in the same fashion, but it was well re]by instructors and residents regardless of use.
Conclusion
The results of this field trial suggest that a dynamic, adult-centered curriculum that is exciting, innovative, and informative enough for a wide variety of programs can be developed; however, the development and programmatic barriers require considerable time and effort to overcome.
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The authors thank the following psychiatric residency programs for their participation in this pilot program and for taking the time to provide verbal evaluations of the curriculum: Austin Medical Education Programs; California Pacific Medical Center; Cleveland Clinic; Duke University; Hennepin County Medical Center; New York University; Saint Elizabeth Medical Center; University of Buffalo; University of California, San Diego; University of California, San Francisco; University of Massachusetts; University of Michigan; University of Nebraska; and Wayne State University. The authors also thank Rick Brandt of Packetrat Communications for his expert technical consultation and development of the video-enhanced slide set with HTML interface.
Disclosures of Academic Psychiatry editors are published in each January issue. Drs. Benjamin, Goldberg, and Thrall stated no competing interests.
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Zisook, S., Balon, R., Benjamin, S. et al. Psychopharmacology Curriculum Field Test. Acad Psychiatry 33, 358–363 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.33.5.358
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.33.5.358