PEDIATRICS Vol. 52 No. 5 November 1973, pp. 743-745
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CHILD PSYCHIATRY TEACHING IN PEDIATRIC TRAINING: THE USE OF A STUDY GROUP

Melvin Lewis M.B., B.S. (London), M.R.C. Psych., D.C.H.1 and Richard B. Colletti M.D.1

1 Child Study Center, Yale University, and the Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine and the Yale-New Haven Hospital New Haven, Connecticut

Our purpose here is to draw attention to the use of a pediatric study group in a child psychiatry program integrated with pediatric training. Typically the pediatrician in training is motivated to develop expertise in a particular area (e.g., neurologic, cardiologic, hematologic, etc.) when stimulated by a particular patient to read about the problem, and to discuss it with teachers who specialize in that area or problem and are readily available. Consequently, the primary goal of the study group was to provide residents with precisely this mode of learning specifically for behavior problems.

Four residents, all committed to pediatrics, joined a senior child psychiatry faculty member to form a pediatric study group, meeting weekly on an unlimited time basis. They initially decided to review the literature on normal child development and then that on the clinical assessment of emotional development. A special bookshelf in the seminar room was provided to facilitate the reading.

Residents learned best from discussion of specific questions such as arose from residents' observations of their own normally developing child, or more often from a patient just seen. The accessibility of specialized information and guidance enabled exploration in depth of their patient's psychological and developmental status. As a result, they improved their skills in detection and management of common behavior problems and felt themselves better pediatricians, able to provide more comprehensive care.

Individual supervision and collaborative care around special cases took the form of a partnership, with mutual commitment in problems of failure to thrive, school learning, custody conflicts, adolescent turmoil, and even the issues in a difficult case of renal transplant between twins.