Encouraging psychiatrists to work with chronic patients: opportunities and limitations of residency education.

In recent years, psychiatrists in both the public and private sectors have been insufficiently involved in the treatment of chronic psychiatric illness. Simultaneously, deinstitutionalization has made the treatment of chronic patients more complex. In this paper the authors discuss the use of medical education- specifically the psychiatric residency-to increase the number of psychiatrists involved in the treatment of chronic patients and to improve the quality of treatment. Optimally residency programs should provide intense, long-term contact with chronic patients, supervised by role models committed to the treatment of such patients. Programs should encourage appropriate attitudes, including realistic treatment expectations and understanding of the issues of patient passivity and dependence; convey specialized knowledge related to housing, ethnicity, occupational, social, and legal matters and train residents in treatment skills tailored to patient needs, including the ability to perform functional diagnostic assessments and to collaborate with other mental health professionals.