Four-year evaluation of a psychiatric clerkship: 1982-1986

The authors describe a psychiatric clerkship organized to achieve goals relevant to all medical students, regardless of their future specialty choice. The clerkship had been in place for 8 years in 1986, and standardized program evaluations were available for 4 years. A survey of the diverse clinical settings used for the clerkship showed that each had unique strengths and weaknesses but that each could meet the core goals of the clerkship, indicating that this clerkship design would also be feasible in a smaller department with any one or two of the settings available.