It was a great pleasure to see our paper Psychiatry training in 42 European countries: A comparative analysis, led by Franziska Baessler and with the input of so many, published in the European Neuropsychopharmacology journal.
Our results show that psychiatry training curricula vary considerably between countries and the emphasis remains on completing a minimum amount of time in training, rather than the acquisition of defined competencies. It highlighted that there are significant gaps in the psychiatry curricula versus population needs. And it suggests that harmonization of training standards could offer significant benefits for improving mental healthcare.
This followed another publication on a much-neglected area Are we training psychiatrists to develop skills in intellectual disability psychiatry? Current European context and future directionsin European psychiatry. Although the majority of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) and psychiatric disorders access mainstream mental health services across Europe, we found that only 56% of countries provide postgraduate psychiatric training in ID.
This work was only possible due to the great endeavour that is EFPT, uniting people from different countries, working towards a common goal.
Due to our work some countries were finally able to change their education policies. When we have this type of feedback, international collaboration doesn’t get any better than this!
Written by: Marisa Casanova Dias, former EFPT president and current vice-president at UEMS Psychiatry