The authors obtained curriculum needs analysis data from second-year
medical students and compared these with data obtained from nonpsychiatrist
physicians and psychiatrists. All groups felt that interviewing skills, the
doctor-patient relationship, managing the dying patient, and evaluation of
suicidal patients were important topics. All gave psychological testing,
behavior modification, mental retardation, and psychoanalytic theory the
lowest teaching priority. The students gave a higher rating to all topics
than did the other groups. The authors suggest that this kind of analysis
can facilitate curriculum selection and implementation.Abstract Teaser