Psychiatric Seminars for the General Practitioner

A program of case-centred seminars in psychiatry designed for general practitioners was begun in Ontario during 1965. It came into being as the result of the cooperative endeavour of the Ontario Chapter, College of General Practice, the Ontario Psychiatric Association and the Division of Postgraduate Medicine, University of Toronto. The program was conducted on a regional rather than on a centralized basis. No general practitioner had to travel more than 30 miles to his seminar, thus ensuring regular weekly attendance for an average of 12 weeks. The Ontario Chapter recruited the general practitioners, the Psychiatric Association selected appropriate regional psychiatrists, and the University gave a brief preliminary course for these psychiatrists. Nineteen separate groups were formed in 13 different Ontario cities, with an average total weekly attendance of 120. A review conference of participating psychiatrists and general practitioners, held in November 1965, developed plans for renewal and extension of the program for 1966. This approach seems especially appropriate for large geographic regions with scattered populations.