LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
Current status of psychiatric residence in the center-western region
Fabiano Coelho Horimoto; Juberty Antônio de Souza
Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul
Dear Editor,
In the Center-Western region, Mato Grosso do Sul was one of the pioneer states to create medical residences in Psychiatry. The first one started its activities in 1992, at Campo Grande's Santa Casa, and has been uninterruptedly functioning for 12 years, offering, currently, two positions. One decade after (2002), it was created a residence at the University Hospital of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, which has currently 01 place. We may highlight that both services are accredited by MEC (Brazil's Secretary of Education)1 and have formed 32 psychiatrists since their beginning up to December 2003.
The importance of more residences in the Center-Western region stems from the situation of lack of specialists, mainly outside the great urban centers, which has been diagnosed long time ago, The number of psychiatrists in Brazil, according to estimations by ABP, cited by Torello,2 is nearly six thousands, and he highlights that university institutions are scarce and geographically concentrated. The Northern and the Center-Western regions represent this trend, as in the former there is no psychiatric residency while in the latter there are psychiatric residences only at Campo Grande (2), Goiânia (1) and Brasília (3), and in these six institutions only 14 psychiatrists graduate yearly,1 whereas the region's population reaches more than 11 million inhabitants.3 Only the Psychiatric Institute of USP4 forms yearly 15 psychiatrists!
Regarding the services' quality, in Mato Grosso do Sul from 1992 up to 2002, 28 physicians have concluded their residence or specialization. Of these, 25 took the exam to obtain the Specialist Degree at ABP and 22 (88%) have been approved. We believe that this a quite objective and judicious form to assess the professionals who want to practice in the area, as they are required to be updated and to have enough knowledge to get their approval. The approval rate of professional formed in Mato Grosso do Sul's services is higher than the Brazilian mean.
An interesting information regarding the rate of physicians who go practicing in the countryside is that our state became a formation center of psychiatrists and a source of propagation of new knowledge for several places, especially the regions with less specialists. Former residentes are spread over 7 states: Mato Grosso do Sul (20 colleagues), Mato Grosso (5), Roraima (2), Goiás (1), São Paulo (2), Paraná (1) and Santa Catarina (1).
These data indicate an urgent need of creation and/or enlargement of psychiatric residence in the Center-Western region, where there is a lack of mental health services, in such a large and at the same time promising area for new colleagues, with the opening of new sources of job opportunities and without the saturation of professionals, a phenomenon which is already a reality at almost all big cities of the Southern and Southeastern regions.
References
1. MEC. Residência Médica de Psiquiatria. Avaiable from: URL: http://www.mec.gov.br/sesu/ftp/residencia/psiquiatria.xls.
2. Torello G. Psychiatry on Line Brazil. Avaiable from: URL: http://www.priory.com/psych/mlitalia.htm.
3. IBGE. Censo Populacional 2000. Avaiable from: URL: http://www.ibge.gov.
4. Instituto de Psiquiatria da USP. Avaiable from: URL: http://www.hcnet.usp.br/ipq.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
23 Feb 2005 -
Date of issue
Sept 2004
