The psychiatry chief resident as information manager.

In all medical specialties, the chief resident position is considered an honor that is the culmination of a resident's hard work and clinical acumen. However, the position requires managerial skills that residents have had little exposure to during medical school and postgraduate medical training. In the paper presented here, the author describes a model involving a medical school department of psychiatry and affiliated residency programs and discusses how various components of the structure are organized (affiliated hospitals, groups of individuals, and administrative hierarchy) and how the movement of information is influenced by organizational structure and interpersonal relationships within the model. The author also describes how information management is a major administrative function for the chief resident and how various predicaments that a chief resident faces stem from his mishandling information and from a misinterpretation of his power and influence. Training issues that could maximize the chief resident's theoretical and practical administrative experience are discussed.