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Psychiatric Training and Board Certification in Thailand

Pichet Udomratn

Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand

Content: In Thailand, we have only two programs for residency training. One is general or adult
psychiatry which takes three years to complete. The other is child and adolescent psychiatry, which
takes four years. There are now eleven institutes that offer residency training but only four medical
schools which can train both general and child psychiatry.

It is compulsory that all accredited training institutes arrange at least 2 hours of supervision per
week. Trainees meet 1 or 2 two supervisors during the three-month rotation. Most of them will have
one supervisor who is in charge of the ward staff and another who supervise care of outpatients. The
second- and third-year residents have an extra supervisor specifically to supervise psychotherapy
cases.

Since 1999 the National Board of Examiners in Thailand requested that all residents submit
research reports with their application for the national examination. At this examination there are
three sections: a written paper, a case interview, and an oral examination. Trainees who have passed
the National Board Examination are qualified to apply to be Fellows of the Royal College of
Psychiatrists of Thailand (RCPsychT). When their application has approved by the executive
committee of the College, they can use the letters FRCPsychT after their family names.

To sum up, psychiatric residency training in Thailand at present is offered for only general and
child and adolescent psychiatry.Training in other psychiatric subspecialties, such as geriatric
psychiatry, or addiction psychiatry, is now in the process for submission to the Thai Medical Council
for the approval. The number of doctors who apply for training in psychiatry is increasing, which
means a bright future for residency training in Thailand can be expected.