Is Soviet Psychiatric Training Relevant in America?
NANCY ROLLINS M.D.1
1 Associate in Psychiatry, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Mass. 02115, and Clinical lnstructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston
There are three levels of medical workers in Soviet medicine; nurse, feldsher, and doctor, and there are advanced degrees for doctors. On the basis of this multiplicity of levels, the author suggests some adaptations for American child psychiatry: a child health worker, a middle medical worker, and two kinds of doctor-therapist; a specialist in child psychiatry and a Ph.D. in medical sciences trained for research and teaching. Other advantages of Soviet training that the author found were the required written reports and the stress on continuing education, with rewards for participation.
