Student attitude changes during "psychiatric medicine" clerkships

Whether psychiatrists can provide effective training of medical students in the psychosocial aspects of patient care should be questioned seriously in view of numerous reports showing that psychiatric education of student physicians had often been inadequate and unpopular. Consequently, objective evidence of psychiatry's ability to enhance knowledge, and especially to change attitudes, is needed in order to substantiate its claim to a significant role in the psychosocial training of doctors. A survey of 111 medical students who completed a "Psychiatric Medicine" clerkship reveals that they developed more favorable attitudes toward psychiatry and psychiatrists, as well as toward the treatability and likability of psychiatric patients. The meaning and implications of these findings are discussed.