Enrichment activities in the medical school psychiatry programme – could this be a key to engaging medical students in psychiatry? A study from a high secure forensic psychiatric UK hospital

Abstract

BackgroundThe majority of research studies on medical student attitudes toward psychiatry focus on influencing factors and the medical school experience. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a one-day visit to a high secure forensic psychiatric unit on medical students’ attitudes towards psychiatry and also assesses career intentions and the factors influencing these.MethodChange in attitudes and career intention were measured by administering a questionnaire, which included the 30-item Attitudes Toward Psychiatry (ATP-30) survey, at the start (time 1) and end (time 2) of the one-day visit. Qualitative data on factors influencing career choice was also gathered.ResultsEvaluation of 284 responses revealed a significant increase in positive attitude towards psychiatry from time 1 to time 2 in the sample as a whole. The most influential factor on consideration of psychiatry as a career across all groups was the medical school clinical placement. For those that tended away from choosing psychiatry as a career, patient prognosis was important.ConclusionsPoor recruitment in psychiatry in the UK is already established which will doubtless be compounded by controversies surrounding the proposed new junior doctors’ contract. Now more than ever, the need to inspire and motivate those at medical school encountering psychiatry is crucial. Our findings add to the body of evidence that the medical school clinical attachment is fundamental in shaping attitudes. However, these results also show that a well-planned visit to a specialised psychiatric unit outside of traditional placements can have a significant impact on students’ attitudes toward psychiatry and mental illness in general. There is limited literature in the UK on enrichment activities within the psychiatry medical school curriculum. We propose that developing opportunities for enrichment activities within psychiatry could increase the scope of how we engage students in this fascinating field of medicine.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1236-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Barriers and facilitators to conducting research by early career psychiatrists: a literature review

“…Furthermore, spreading these across multiple sites should be possible, such as by using web-based approaches, e-mail, teleconferences and video streaming (O'Hara et al, 2010). and might also lead to a higher engagement of ECPs in research (Mortlock et al, 2017). Introducing medical students to clinical neurosciences early in medical education might allow them to view psychiatry as being formed by a team of medical experts who challenge a broad range of questions about the brain and mind functioning, as demonstrated in other neuroscience disciplines (Tieniber, Readdy, 2016).…”

Creating a State‐Academic Partnership to Advance a Forensic Teaching Service: Benefits and Barriers

“…For general psychiatry residents who do not go on to specialize in forensic psychiatry, exposure to the field through the forensic teaching service will familiarize them with core forensic principles and community resources. Providing diverse training experiences fosters trainee satisfaction with their education, which encourages continued ties to the local community . The region benefits when highly trained clinicians remain in the community to provide mental health services, even if they are not directly providing forensic‐related services.…”

#ChoosePsychiatry #the60secondchallenge – a thematic analysis of videos published on Twitter about reasons for choosing psychiatry

“…On the back foot, this necessitates that the short time spent within psychiatry needs to be positive within both clinical and taught settings (McParland et al, 2003;Choudry and Farooq, 2017). This offers further support for the recommendations to include enrichment activities, in addition to continuing the efforts of the 'Anti-BASH' campaign supported by the College (Mukherjee, Maier and Wessely, 2013;Choudry and Farooq, 2017;Mortlock et al, 2017; The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2017a).…”