Psychiatrists and Primary Physicians: Collaborative Learning Experiences in Delivering Primary Care

Psychiatric and primary care residents can benefit from taking part of their training together in a primary care setting such as a neighborhood health center or a health maintenance organization. The training in such organized settings can best focus on the comprehensive appraisal of patients' multiple health, mental health, and health-related social service needs; the coordination of care to devise nonfragmented treatment plans for multiproblem patients; the effective collaboration between health generalists and mental health specialists; and the efficient use of limited resources to meet a population's health care needs. Such a coordinated training experience also helps overcome interprofessional antagonisms that often inhibit collaboration between psychiatrists and other physicians.