How to win the hearts and minds of students in psychiatry

Hany George El-Sayeh is a consultant in general adult psychiatry with special interest in substance misuse, working for Craven, Harrogate and Rural District Primary Care Trust (The Briary Wing, Harrogate District Hopsital, Lancaster Park Road, Harrogate HE2 7SX. Email: Hany.el-sayeh{at}chrd-pct.nhs.uk). Simon Budd is an honorary clinical lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Leeds and a staff grade doctor in the psychiatry of old age at Leeds Community Teaching NHS Trust. His interests centre on medical education and audit. Robert Waller is an honorary lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Leeds and specialist registrar in liaison psychiatry at Leeds Community Teaching NHS Trust. He is primarily interested in student mental health, medical education and computerised cognitive–behavioural therapy. John Holmes is a senior lecturer in old age psychiatry at the University of Leeds and honorary consultant in liaison psychiatry of the elderly at Leeds Community Teaching NHS Trust. His main areas of interest include the study of delirium, liaison psychiatry of the elderly and medical education.

This is not the first article in APT to address the teaching of psychiatry to undergraduates. For example, Curran & Bowie (1998) have discussed types of learning, types of student and principles of course design. Vassilas et al (2003) described courses that teach the skills of teaching. A recent editorial (Bhugra, 2005) introduced the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ new curriculum and the implications of the establishment of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB). In the present article, El-Sayeh et al examine ways of enticing medical students into our specialty and, what’s more, keeping them there.

Psychiatry in the UK and in many other countries is facing a fundamental crisis in attracting new graduates. This poorly understood problem may be related to negative undergraduate experiences. Many clinicians have learnt through an ‘apprenticeship’ model and few are formally taught how to teach students in a modern clinical setting. Learning theory provides useful models for learning and teaching that can improve undergraduate clinical experiences. A variety of means are available to help teaching clinicians apply these theories, including self-help using published literature and gaining teaching qualifications. As the majority of modern undergraduate psychiatry teaching occurs during clinical placements, the incorporated techniques will need to be sensitive to the teaching environment. Application of these principles to day-to-day teaching practice may help to reverse the current staff shortages.