To evaluate whether new pre-registration house officer posts in psychiatry deliver training leading to increased confidence in target skills, based on General Medical Council requirements, and to evaluate trainees' satisfaction with these posts. A structured questionnaire was filled out by the first nine incumbents of the PRHO posts before and after the placements.

Trainees' confidence improved in all the target skills and the posts were all rated as good or excellent. The posts attracted trainees who were potentially interested in a career in psychiatry or general practice.

PRHO posts in psychiatry deliver training that meets General Medical Council objectives, and trainees' confidence with core psychiatric skills improves after undertaking the placements.

To engage patients as teachers of psychiatrists in training and non-consultant career grades, for the purpose of enhancing doctors' understanding of the patient point of view and of the complexity of the doctor–patient relationship. Patients have been engaged as teachers in a recurrent cycle of ‘Basic Interview Skills' workshops and the views of the doctors about this initiative have been elicited through a brief anonymous and confidential questionnaire.

Thirty-six psychiatric senior house officers (SHOs), general practitioners, Vocational Training Scheme SHOs in psychiatry, and staff grade and trust doctors in psychiatry have participated in four cycles of workshops. Five patients have engaged in the workshops as teachers, alongside the clinical tutor. Questionnaire feedback indicated some specific criticisms of a number of participants and dissatisfaction by a small minority of doctors, but the overall evaluation of the experience was positive.

Engagement of patients as teachers of psychiatrists in training and other new doctors in mental health services is desirable, feasible and welcomed by most doctors. With due attention to the legitimate sensitivities of participants, the practice of engaging patients as teachers of doctors working in psychiatry could be generalised in training schemes and services across the country.

There is a shortage of doctors in the UK, particularly in psychiatry and pathology. Little is known about prospective medical students' career intentions or attitudes. This study aimed to report on the career intentions and attitudes to psychiatry of 819 attenders at a sixth-form conference for prospective medical students.

A much higher proportion of students expressed favourable attitudes to psychiatry as a career than might have been expected. The most popular career was paediatrics and the least popular was genitourinary medicine.

Medical schools need to be proactive in providing information, career advice and positive role models. This may counteract negative propaganda and encourage career choice in tune with students' earlier feelings and patients' needs.

We describe the Balint case discussion group method and how it can be applied to training psychiatrists. In a group that we ran, the performance of members on a clinical task before and after a year in the group was investigated. Written responses to a case vignette were appraised blindly by psychotherapists who were also examiners for the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

There were eight members in the Balint group, which met weekly for one year. We found that members' performance on the clinical task improved significantly following the year spent in the Balint group.

A Balint group, as part of an introduction to psychotherapy for psychiatrists, may represent a step towards achieving comprehensive training that is relevant to ordinary clinical practice.