Redefining psychiatry: implications for educators and medical student education

Psychiatric education must be reevaluated and changed in response to increasing knowledge in the field, ongoing health care reform, decreased inpatient stays, changing reimbursement and other faculty fiscal pressures, the generalist physician priority, and fewer students entering the field. The author offers recommendations for preclinical patient interviewing, supervision, and follow-up; revision of the behavioral sciences course; new lectures in clinical clerkship rotations; attention to faculty attitudes toward students; faculty teaching competence; the importance of role modeling and mentoring; and the need for electives to encourage students to select psychiatry. An improved relationship with other physician colleagues is a priority to decrease stigma toward psychiatry.