REPLY TO THE LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Residency training in Fontcalent Prison Psychiatric Hospital

Formación MIR en el Hospital Psiquiátrico Penitenciario de Fontcalent

Legal Psychiatry is currently considered as one of the four voluntary itineraries within Psychiatry residency training. Nevertheless it remains optional and hence there is no minimum compulsory training on legal psychiatry matters while on everyday practice, especially in public settings, most decisions and interventions can entail legal consequences. This has not been properly considered by training programs, or in Medical Schools and thus, legal aspects are usually poorly approached, depending more on the willfulness of tutors and teachers or on residents' concerns. In case of having these concerns, there are few departments offering specific training on this matter since the expertise on the same is usually not available for most teaching hospitals.

It is true that there are few places where residents can be specifically trained in these issues, although it is worth highlighting Barcelona, Alicante or Seville, or as an alternative, forensic departments which can be complementary but they are not psychiatry services and therefore training is usually not the same.

The approach of the Letter and the story she describes is something common among Residents who want to specialize.

Álvaro Muro Álvarez
Cataluña Prison Psychiatry Hospitalization
Unit Coordinator
Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu