Mentally ill inpatients' experiences and opinions on seeing medical students: a questionnaire study

Research involving general patients suggests that most patients agree to be involved in medical education but prefer not to discuss personal or stress related issues with/in front of medical students. We explore the opinions and experiences of mentally ill in-patients of their involvement in undergraduate medical education in psychiatry. The study shows that patients attach importance to students seeing real patients and that the patients are happy to be seen by medical students. Most patients benefit from seeing a student and few suffer detriment. They experience anxiety prior to the student-patient interview which dissipates during the interview. Mentally ill patients agree to see medical students for similar reasons to other patients. It is important to obtain full consent from patients who see medical students.