You teach psychiatry to medical students, residents, or fellows — covering psychiatric assessment, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy fundamentals, and the clinical reasoning psychiatry requires. Half academic faculty, half practicing or recently practicing psychiatrist.
Most days tend to involve a blend of classroom teaching, clinical supervision, and continued clinical practice — leading didactic sessions, supervising learners on inpatient or outpatient units, and seeing your own patients. You'll often spend part of the time on scholarly work that academic appointments expect.
The harder part is often balancing the multiple demands of teaching, clinical care, and scholarship in a specialty where the therapeutic relationship and clinical reasoning develop over years. You'll typically work with learners at varied levels of clinical readiness, while maintaining the standards psychiatric practice requires.
People who tend to thrive here are clinically expert, patient teachers, and willing to invest in the long arc of psychiatric training. The trade-off is the salary differential with private psychiatric practice and the cumulative work of academic responsibilities. If you find satisfaction in shaping the next generation of psychiatrists, the work can carry meaning that pure clinical practice doesn't.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
You teach psychiatry to medical students, residents, or fellows — covering psychiatric assessment, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy fundamentals, and the clinical reasoning psychiatry requires. Half academic faculty, half practicing or recently practicing psychiatrist.
Median pay for a Psychiatry Teacher is about $106K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $52K to $208K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Speaking, Reading Comprehension, Instructing, Active Learning, and Learning Strategies.
Most people in this role hold a master's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 17.3% through 2034, with roughly 229,720 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Health Teacher, First Aid Teacher, and Clinical Instructor.
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