Academic Psychiatry

Charles, Sara; Sharf, Barbara; Blumberg, Phyllis

doi: 10.1007/BF03399876pmid: N/A

Eighty-three percent of 116 supervisors responded to a questionnaire derived from the content of the psychiatry clerkship objectives. There was almost unanimous agreement on the data-gathering and data-integrating skills, i.e., basic interviewing skills, but less on management skills and core knowledge. Overall, the results indicated that most of the objectives are being taught. There is a high degree of concordance between core faculty who developed the teaching objectives and supervising faculty who implement them.

Arnold, L.; Calestro, Kenneth; Bates, William; Wasserman, Mitchell

doi: 10.1007/BF03399877pmid: N/A

The authors have developed an approach for teaching psychiatric interviewing that relates closely to the aspects of physical diagnosis that medical students are learning. This includes interview analogies to the physical exam skills of observation, palpation, auscultation, and percussion, as well as psychiatric review of systems. Relevance of interview techniques to medical management is dramatized by a medical anecdote. Techniques explained include: open-ended questions, using the patient’s coinage, use of silence, and reading nonverbal communication and connotations of verbal communication. Mental defense mechanisms are illustrated by examples relating to the student’s situation. The article provides sample wording actually used with students. Students receiving this approach showed significant (p <.01) improvement on an attitude scale compared to no significant change for control students in similar preceptorships without this approach.

Streit-Forest, Ursula; Laplante, Normand

doi: 10.1007/BF03399878pmid: N/A

Though our student sample stems from a different cultural background, our results confirm earlier findings of rather “negative” attitudes. “Patient” is perceived as being very different from the students themselves and from medical specialists. A principal component analysis of the semantic differential used to evaluate these attitudes helped to better understand this “negative” view of “patient” and “psychiatrist.” Despite the difficulty of changing attitudes, selection politics taking into account these attitudes would be problematic as no underlying key characteristics such as empathy or dogmatism seemed related to these attitudes upon analysis of their variation.

Kay, Jerald

doi: 10.1007/BF03399879pmid: N/A

The author surveyed child psychiatrists, general psychiatrists, family practitioners, and pediatricians about the role of child psychiatry in the undergraduate medical curriculum. While the four groups were in high agreement on the importance of most topics, nonpsychiatric physicians differed on: the diagnosis of learning disorders, understanding and management of common behavioral problems, adolescent drug abuse, and ability to do brief supportive psychotherapy. A model curriculum is proposed based on survey results.

McFarland, Bentson; Kinzie, J.

doi: 10.1007/BF03399880pmid: N/A

Nine psychiatric residents took multiple choice tests based on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology certification examinations annually for each of three years while in training at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center. Analysis of variance techniques was used to study both the test scores and the residents’ numerical rankings among their colleagues. While the actual scores varied from year to year, the rankings consistently improved as the residents progressed through the training program.

Cancro, Robert; Billings, Charles

doi: 10.1007/BF03399881pmid: N/A

Kay, Jerald

doi: 10.1007/BF03399882pmid: N/A