To the Editor: As the information load of modern psychopharmacology continues to expand, and expert teachers are torn away from the lecture room by multiple competing demands (1), the need for development of comprehensive psychopharmacology curricula has mushroomed (1). To help meet this need, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), American Society for Clinical Psychopharmacology (ASCP), and American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (AADPRT), have initiated a series of multi-modal, disease-based model psychopharmacology curricula or subcurricula (2, 3). Recently, ASCP’s Residents and Fellows Committee (RFC) has developed novel, multi-modal psychopharmacology curricula in major depression and bipolar disorder to support psychopharmacology education (4, 5). As part of our efforts to disseminate the model curricula, we sought feedback from psychiatry residency training directors about their interest in implementing such curricula and potential barriers to their use.

A 15-item questionnaire was developed to ascertain the need of a model curriculum among general psychiatry residency training directors. The instrument was disseminated via the internet. The Institutional Review Board at Wayne State University approved the study, and completion of the survey implied informed consent.

Although the instrument was meant for training directors, and the recruitment script was specifically addressed to training directors, the instrument was sent to the entire membership of AADPRT (N=621); 100 AADPRT members (16%) completed the survey.

A majority (93%) of respondents reported having a separate curriculum in psychopharmacology at their institutions, and 90% considered having a psychopharmacology curriculum “very important.” Sixty-six percent of respondents reported that their institution devoted more than 30 hours to psychopharmacology teaching during 4 years of residency training, whereas only 2% reported devoting less than 10 hours. Although 69% reported having a designated psychopharmacology teacher, only 3% had a designated psychopharmacology Chief Resident at their institution. About one-third (34%) reported a need to enhance their overall psychopharmacology curriculum, and almost 1 in 4 (23%) reported a need to enhance their psychopharmacology curriculum in major depression and bipolar disorder. Whereas 34% reported being “very interested” and 28% “interested” in acquiring ready-made PowerPoint presentations, 59% responded as “very interested” and 30% “interested” in acquiring ready-made alternative-learning exercises; 24% were aware of the RFC’s modules in major depression and bipolar disorder, and 67% were aware of ASCP’s model curriculum; 43% responded “yes” to using a ready-made multi-modal psychopharmacology curriculum on mood disorders put together by ASCP’s RFC, whereas 53% responded “maybe.”

The time required for teaching and the potential cost were cited frequently as key barriers to utilization of this model curriculum. The degree of overlap and lack of a review process to evaluate the efficacy of the curriculum, as compared with existing teaching modalities, and the teaching faculty’s reluctance to use someone else’s already-prepared material also emerged as potential barriers. Suggestions such as making the modules web-based, including real-time updates, allowing comments on its use, incorporating video vignettes, adding an interactive component, and using a tool like Articulate, with narrations and questions for course credit, were offered as ways to improve the modules.

This study has several limitations. The response rate was modest. The survey was sent to the entire AADPRT membership, and there is a chance that members who are not training directors may have responded. However, the recruitment script was specifically addressed to training directors, and we believe that this may have limited the response from other AADPRT members. Also, there is a possibility that, in some cases, more than one person may have responded from the same training program. Because of the way the survey was addressed, it is likely that most respondents were training directors, but probably not all. If we take these factors into account, we may have a putative response rate of close to 54% (100 responses out of 184 programs).

Our study points to a potential value for a ready-made multi-modal psychopharmacology curriculum on mood disorders. Although only about one-third of respondents reported a need to enhance overall psychopharmacology curriculum at their institutions, a significant majority of respondents reported being interested in acquiring ready-made alternative learning exercises, such as Jeopardy-style quizzes and Case Competency exercises for psychopharmacology education. A smaller number of respondents are interested in acquiring only ready-made PowerPoint presentations. This points to the need for revising the goals and streamlining the efforts of the model curriculum committee of the ASCP and the RFC. It seems that, among the training directors, there is a greater need for tools that may enhance the existing psychopharmacology curriculum, and alternative learning exercises are favored over ready-made PowerPoint presentations.

Even after years of effort, there is a relative lack of awareness about the ASCP’s model curriculum and the RFC’s modules. However, the RFC’s Depression module has been selected by AADPRT as a “model curriculum” and will be displayed on the AADPRT website, which should facilitate its dissemination and use.

It is imperative that ASCP and its RFC keep up with changing times and state of evidence. Efforts are being made to have the ASCP’s model curriculum web-based with regular updates and available to download for subscribers. However, this may still require a significant cost, and a majority of the respondents perceive cost as one of the barriers to implementing a multi-modal curriculum. Nevertheless, we believe that the benefits of a standardized and portable psychopharmacology curriculum outweigh the liabilities. It remains to be seen how we can come up with a practical, user-friendly curriculum in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner.