Psychiatry clerkship success: skills and styles

In recent years, medical students and psychiatry have been a provocative mix, causing much concern among students and faculty. Disagreement has been frequently offered regarding clerkship content, degree of learning, and even the basic importance of the topic of psychiatry itself. To help overcome these problems, 10 suggestions are offered for a curriculum learning skill foundation and 13 suggestions for clerkship teaching staff approach. These truism ingredients have been the major formula of a successful psychiatry teaching program as consistently reported by almost a decade of students and faculty. It is believed these principles might have wider applicability for enhancement of student recruitment to psychiatry residencies and for general stimulation of interest and learning in clerkship programs of various medical disciplines. Relevant literature is cited which addresses some of these individual issues.