The literature and medicine seminar for medical students : a potential recruitment tool

Literature and medicine (L-M) seminars have been used occasionally in psychiatric training programs, and their use has been sparingly described in the literature. A similar seminar designed for preclinical medical students, employing short stories focused on medically related themes, was offered as an elective in 1991. By asking enrollees about their future specialty choices, the author found that the L-M seminar predominantly attracted those students who were drawn to the "patient-oriented" specialties. In addition, both psychiatric expertise and sensitivity to student concerns and interests were necessary for the seminar to succeed. It is proposed, therefore, that the L-M seminar provides a novel opportunity for psychiatric educators to attract and encourage patient-oriented students to consider psychiatry as a future specialty choice early in their training.