Teaching forensic psychiatry to psychiatric residents.

Abstract

This study outlines current trends in the education of psychiatric residents in forensic psychiatry. As general psychiatrists are more frequently confronted with issues pertaining to psychiatry and the law, residency training in these areas becomes increasingly important. In order to study the educational experience of psychiatric residents in forensic psychiatry, a survey was sent to all residency training directors in the United States and Canada. The findings of the study included a description of didactics and experiential rotations in forensic psychiatry, the background of those teaching forensics, inclusion of key topics in the curriculum, and the training directors' opinions of both the importance of forensic education and the inclusion of these specific topics in the curriculum.