Discussions about examination as a part of residency in psychiatry have been ongoing for many years now. Residency in adult psychiatry gives access to a broad and appreciated set of courses in many fields covering our speciality, but no broad formalised way of testing your knowledge of current guidelines, pharmacology, law and diagnostics. This is about to change.
Sweden did offer a psychiatric speciality exam in the early 1990ies through the Swedish Psychiatric Association, but this consisted of a written exam (non-MCQ) paired with an oral examination and recorded video consultations. The project was ambitious and appreciated, but costly and time-consuming and was discontinued, unfortunately.
Exams for residents and specialists in psychiatry do exist internationally, our closest known neighbour being the United Kingdom. There is also a trend in Swedish medical specialities of creating their exams or tests, for instance, Neurology and OB/GYN. Some specialities use common European exams for instance Anesthesiology. No current joint European exam exists today (even though one might be on its way through EPA/EFPT). However, there will still most likely be remaining differences in local traditions and guidelines.
The coming exam, which is financed and administered by the Swedish Psychiatric Association, will cover the entire field of adult psychiatry, on a reasonable level for every new specialist in psychiatry. It will not be a horrible, impossible, trick-question-bonanza based on esoteric research known to few (which one might fear), but rather a reasonable and clinically relevant and hands-on test based on known sources, common knowledge, and accepted guidelines.
Our primary goal will not be mainly a fail-pass exam, and a test cannot be made obligatory in the current set of laws. Instead, it will be used as a progress test, which can be taken at the beginning of your residency, in the end, or in your early days of being a specialist in psychiatry. It can also be used by senior specialists as a self-test and as a part of your continued education.
The test will consist of ~100 MCQ questions (“single best answer”) and will be offered physically (using your own device, but sitting in the same room, at the same time) at either one of our conferences during the year. The residency conference in January 2024 or the large Swedish psychiatric conference in March 2024.
Individual test results will not be made public, but each participant will be able to ask for a diploma afterwards. There will be a separate seminar on the harder questions and time for discussion.
During 2024 the test will be free of charge, but from 2025 it will probably need a fee to finance the work and platform costs.
Are you a Swedish-speaking psychiatrist (the test will be in Swedish) and have an interest in taking the test? Feel free to email us. Attending the test will need a ticket to one of our conferences.
Questions? Feel free to ask us at kunskapstest@svenskpsykiatri.se □