Student education and recruitment into psychiatry : a synergistic proposal

The authors propose that the most effective recruitment strategy is a strong psychiatric curriculum positioned as a relevant and integral part of undergraduate education for primary care physicians. The necessary ingredients are educational leadership by the chair, a multifaceted curriculum, shared teaching with generalists, and an emphasis on gender and ethnic minority issues. In changing times, it is essential that psychiatric educators remain at the center of the educational stage and continue to attract medical students through sharing the excitement of the intellectual and clinical challenges in psychiatry.