Forty-three medical students completed questionnaires about their
attitudes toward the right to refuse treatment at the beginning and end of
their psychiatric clerkship, during which time their clinical experience
included exposure to involuntary psychiatric treatment. The students had a
more favorable view of involuntary treatment after the clerkship; the
change in attitudes was statistically significant. The authors hypothesize
that the medical students' increased willingness to use seclusion and
involuntary neuroleptic medication was due to exposure to agitated violent
patients as well as experience with the beneficial effects of neuroleptic
medication.
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