Use of Simulation to Prepare Medical Students for Psychiatry

To provide simulation-based medical education to undergraduate students and to evaluate its efficacy and feasibility in resource-constrained medical colleges.

An observational study. Place and Duration of the Study: Psychiatry Unit, Mufti Mehmood Memorial Teaching Hospital, Gomal Medical College, Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, from June to July 2023.

Psychiatrists conducted teaching sessions using depression-based scenarios in accordance with the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice, with nurses trained and utilised as simulated patients. All fourth-year medical students (n = 87) taking their psychiatry rotation were divided into three groups after a short lecture on depression. One volunteer from each group was asked to take a history, perform relevant examinations, and devise management plans. Students received feedback from simulated patients, peers, and supervisors. All the students signed a consent form and completed pre- and post-session questionnaires on Confidence in Assessing and Managing Depression (CAM-D). A paired t-test was applied to analyse the change in confidence.

Consultant psychiatrists, along with medical officers, conducted the session for two hours. Significant improvement in rapport development, history taking, examination, risk assessment, making a proper diagnosis, and management of depression was observed in students with a mean value of 4.43 ± 0.57 vs. 1.61 ± 0.49, 4.33 ± 0.63 vs. 1.66 ± 0.47, 4.43 ± 0.57 vs. 1.57 ± 0.51, 4.42 ± 0.60 vs. 1.63 ± 0.48, 4.36 ± 0.62 vs. 1.59 ± 0.55, and 4.41 ± 0.60 vs. 1.71 ± 0.45, respectively. A p-value of <0.001 was considered statistically significant.

Simulation-based medical education is an acceptable and effective way of teaching psychiatry at the undergraduate level. It can be used to teach medical students a variety of common psychiatric disorders that they encounter during ward placement. It is feasible after minimal efforts and through proper training of simulation educators and simulated patients.

Simulated patients, Students, Medical, Simulation training, Psychiatry, Depression.