Psychiatric training in rural and remote areas: increasing skills and building partnerships.

R ural or remote communities may be ideal locations to train residents in general psychiatry. In addition, evidence from the rural medical education literature suggests that developing educational experiences in these communities may also improve recruitment and retention. University departments of psychiatry, in partnership with national organizations and underserved communities themselves, are beginning to develop training sites in small Canadian communities. This paper examines the educational opportunities for these sites and explores the necessary adaptation of existing curricula to provide optimal learning in rural and remote environments.