Psychiatry training in Europe: Views from the trenches

Abstract

Background: In the majority of European countries, postgraduate psychiatry training schemes are developed and evaluated by national bodies in accordance with national legislation. In order to harmonise training in psychiatry across Europe, the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) issued a number of recommendations for effective implementation of training programs in psychiatry. Aims: To describe the structure and quality assurance mechanisms of postgraduate psychiatric training in Europe. Method: The European Federation of Psychiatry Trainees (EFPT) conducted a survey, which was completed by the representatives of 29 member national psychiatric associations. Results: In most countries (N ¼ 19), the duration of the training programme is 5 years or more. Twenty-six countries have adapted a basic training programme that includes the 'common trunk' (according to UEMS definition) or a modified version of it. In 25 countries, trainees are evaluated several times during their training with a final exam at the end. In 25 countries, official quality assurance mechanisms exist. However, results demonstrate great variations in their implementation. Conclusions: Overall, psychiatric training programmes and assessment methods are largely compatible with one another across Europe. Quality assurance mechanisms, however, vary significantly. These should receive adequate attention by national and international educational policy makers.

Transition as a topic in psychiatry training throughout Europe: trainees’ perspectives

“…The UEMS requirements for the speciality of psychiatry states that a common trunk of fundamental knowledge and skills should be present in every national curriculum, including general adult psychiatry and developmental psychiatry (child and adolescent psychiatry, learning difficulties and mental handicap) [20][21]. This common trunk, or modified version which includes adult psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, seems to be successfully implemented in almost 100% of European countries [22]. However, this is not in line with our survey, as for only 50% of the countries trainees indicated they certainly received lectures on adolescent psychiatry/ psychopathology (Table 3).…”

To which countries do European psychiatric trainees want to move to and why?

“…Regarding the sampling method, there is no official data available on the total number of psychiatric trainees for many countries in Europe and there is no centralized European database that would allow randomisation. Yet, based on the annually updated country database of the EFPT we calculate the total number of psychiatric trainees by approximately 19390 (18). Sampling rates varied within countries, with some countries with many psychiatric trainees having low response rates.…”

Interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder in psychiatric practice across Europe: a trainees’ perspective

“…Moreover, as one expert per country answered the survey and we had to rely on the expertise of the respondents, results may have been biased. Yet, surveys of nationally appointed experts are commonly used to obtain representative data (Kuzman et al, 2012 ; Lotz-Rambaldi et al, 2008 ) and participants were well informed on the situations in their country. Given the fact that only very limited data on training options in the respective countries were available, it is advisable that societies on psychotraumatology conduct larger scale investigations of training options across Europe.…”