O NE OF THE newest developments in hospitals is the emergence of a specialized department that is specifically commissioned and equipped to train personnel. At long last, hospital administrators recognize that our hospitals cannot exist without effective training programs when most of their employees lack appropriate skills before being hired. They are also beginning to view learning as a complicated process that requires the work of a professional educator. Effective teaching and learning techniques are as essential to education as medical instruments are to medicine. For the past five years I have participated in or observed the emergence of staff development departments for a number of state mental hospitals in Indiana. Through my own and others’ trial and error I have found that there are several ways to conduct an education program, any of which can succeed or fail depending on the situation. For example, in a centralized education department an adult educator or appropriately trained administrator-educator directs a teaching staff. He derives his authority from the support of his superintendent, and receives the necessary budget, personnel, equipment, supplies, and policy backing. The content of the training activities and the teaching methods to be used are formalized by the training staff, and the training is certified by central mental health authorities. Schedules are set up, and the staff are encouraged to pace their teaching accordingly. Whenever possible, those who learn and demonstrate new skills are rewarded by promotion and increases in salary. The centralized approach has several advan-