Education in primary care psychiatry: research-based audit

This paper describes some of the difficulties faced by the KCGP Mental Health Education Fellows in designing an educational initiative to enhance the recognition and management of psychiatric illness in general practice. The initiative was evaluated using a consensus technique over six meetings which took place between 1993 and 1995. The results of the exercise illustrated the value of utilizing a validated instrument in identifying mental health problems, but when employed without support created disillusionment and a lack of confidence in the learner. However, when the instrument was applied as part of a wide educational process examining current practice, learners were stimulated to examine and change their behaviour by synthesizing newly acquired knowledge with their own previous clinical experience.