Eur Psychiatry 1998 ; 13 : 375-8 Q Elsevier, Paris AEP news Harmonisation of psychiatric training in Europe and the diversity of the selection, access systems and training programmes in the speciality of psychiatry CT Kollias, M Margariti, D Pappa, VP Kontaxakis, GN Christodoulou Department of Psychiatry, University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, 74 Vas Sophias Au, 11528 Athens, Greece (Received 10 August 1998; final version 14 September 1998; accepted 18 September 1998) psychiatry / training / speciality / EFFT The need for “harmonisation” in the countries of the Euro- pean Union and the EFTA countries is taken from the treaty of Rome (1958) and the Foundation Treaty of the European Market, now called the European Union. The term “harmon- isation” of training contains the meaning of searching for and establishing common rules and training requirements in all European countries concerned. The European Board of Psychiatry has proposed specific requirements for the train- ing of psychiatric trainees [I]. During the past meetings of the European Forum for all Psy- chiatric Trainees (EFPT) [3, 10, 111, the delegates of each country presented the training programmes of their own train- ing centre, and the impression given was that although the European countries had different programmes, the goal of har- monisation was not unreachable, since in each country training pmgrammes were similar. From a prelimmary study, by former members of the Hellenic Association of Psychiatric Trainees [5,6] presented in two congresses, it was shown that at least in Greece, them are differences in residential training from one training institution to the next [8, 91. Thus, we decided to see whether this was also the case with other European countries, therefore, during the EFPT) meeting [J, 71, which took place in Athens on the 28th and 29th of March 1997, a questionnaire was given by the Greek delegates to the country representatives who participated in the Forum. Its goal was to determine whether the diversity in psychiatric training was common in the European countries represented in the Fomm and to find out if any steps were made, from April 1996 (when the fourth EFPI took place in Lisbon) [3] up to March 1997 (when the fifth EFPI took place in Athens) [S, 61, in those European counties, in order to harmonise psychiatric training with the requirements of the European Board of Psychiatry. Materials and methods The questionnaire is shown as tuble 1. The questionnaires were given to the delegates of the seventeen countries which participated in the Forum. One Table I. Questionnaire. Please, mark with a cross the valid answer to each of the following three questions and give more details if possible, wherever they are asked I) Which of the following is valid in your country today? a The trainee chooses the training institution where he wants to be trained and he enters a waiting list, waiting for his turn to start b The training institution selects the trainees who will be trained in it If this is valid, in what way does the institution make the selection? c The national authority makes the selection If yes, in what way? d There is another way of selection, different from the above men- tioned ways If yes, please describe it 2) Are there any differences from training institution to training institution, concerning the: a rotation If yes, what kind of differences? b psychotherapeutic training If yes, what kind of differences? c hours or content of theoretical training If yes, what kind of differences? d There are no differences from training institution to training institution 3) Are there any changes in your National legal frame, concerning the psychiatric training, during the 19% - 1997 period (April 19%- March 1997)? aYes bNo If yes, please describe them questionnaire per country was given, which was completed by the representatives of each country. Thirteen question- naires were completed. Of the countries which answered the questionnaire, five had two, four had one, two had three, one had five and one had four representatives in the Forum. Although the sample is small, it is representative. Results The answers to the questions of the questionnaire are pre- sented in table II. Six countries (46.1%) answered that the training centre selects the trainees. In three of these six countries (Nether- lands, Sweden, United Kingdom) the choice is made accord- ing to the trainees’ curriculum and with an interview, in two only with an interview (Denmark, Germany) and in one after an exam which will take place in each training centre (Italy). Two countries (15.3%) answered that the trainees select the training centre in which they want to be trained and enter a waiting list until their term comes to commence their training (Greece, Cyprus). Since Cyprus does not provide training in psychiatry but most of the Cypriot trainees get trained in Greek hospitals, the above mentioned method of selection for and access to the psychiatric training concerns only Greece.