There are no minimum standards for the clinical training of psychiatrists with regard to the type and number of patients evaluated or treated. Interest in establishing such standards derives from a need for greater accountability, a high fail rate on the clinical portion of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology examinations, and an increasing demand for precise documentation of competence in specific areas by hospital privileging committees. Although considerable disagreement exists as to what the overall requirements should be, some minimum requirements can be agreed on. The authors discuss concerns about minimal standards and make suggestions for further development of standards.

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Previously documented gender differences that affect practice patterns and career opportunities may very well change as a function of the increasing representation of women in the profession of psychiatry, and these changes need to be taken into account in planning for future patient care and research needs.

The authors present recommendations for educating medical students and psychiatric residents in geropsychiatry. They are primarily concerned with the objectives and methods rather than the content of training. Proposals are structured in terms of training objectives and educational settings in which such training takes place. The proposals are intended to be specific enough to be truly useful and at the same time sufficiently generalizable to adapt to geropsychiatric training in a variety of institutions. Priority is given to integrating knowledge of normal and abnormal aging with the clinical skills and empathy necessary to approach patients with competence and understanding.

CMHCs continue to be an important and valued component of the educational experience for many psychiatric residents, and many departments of psychiatry have recognized the advantages and benefits of CMHCs for residency training. There are now considerable data on how a relationship between a medical school department and a CMHC should be structured to achieve maximum benefit for both the department and the CMHC.