Family-oriented patient care through the residency training cycle.

OBJECTIVE: Because family oriented patient care improves patient outcome and reduces family burden, clinical family skills of communication, assessment, alliance, and support are part of core competencies required of all residents. Teaching residents to "think family" as part of core competencies and to reach out to families requires change in the teaching environment. METHODS: This article advocates teaching residents family skills throughout the training years as an integrated part of routine patient care rather than in isolated family clinics or a course in "family therapy." It reviews family skills required of residents in all treatment settings and family skills that are specific to inpatient, emergency room, outpatient, and consultation-liaison services. RESULTS: Families can be seen in multiple treatment settings throughout resident training using recent research to support appropriate interventions for patients and caregivers. CONCLUSION: The process of establishing change in the training environment requires a commitment on the part of the training faculty to include families, but is possible within the current training framework.

Family skills for general psychiatry residents: meeting ACGME core competency requirements.

OBJECTIVE: The authors discuss the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed for a resident to be competent in supporting and working with families, as mandated by the residency review committee (RRC) core competencies. METHODS: The RRC core competencies, as they relate to patients and their families, are reviewed. The Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) presents an operational version of these core competencies. RESULTS: Methods of assessment, challenges in teaching, and ways of overcoming programmatic constraints are outlined. Examples of training programs that offer ways of integrating the teaching of family skills into existing programs are described. CONCLUSIONS: The implications of the current RRC core competency requirements pertaining to families have the potential to change the training environment substantially. The GAP Family Committee proposes recommendations to facilitate the training of residents in family skills.