Short course in psychiatric emergencies and crisis intervention.

Faculty of the Discipline of Family Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland saw a need to improve the teaching to residents in the management of psychiatric emergencies and in crisis intervention. A short course, entitled "Psychiatric Emergencies and Crisis Intervention" (PEACI), was developed around the common psychiatric emergencies that family physicians encounter. The elements of this course included a pre-test and post-test, selected reading for independent study, lectures and seminars, simulated patient encounters, debriefing sessions, and evaluation. Most of the residents rated the course as "very good" or "excellent" and wished to repeat the course in a year's time.