Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1599-1602
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Impact of the outpatient clerkship on medical students
PF Eagle and LR Marcos
Using an anonymous questionnaire, the authors assessed the professional
relevance of outpatient and inpatient curricula and the didactic value of
different parts of the clerkship for 80 junior medical students randomly
assigned to a pilot clerkship. Significantly more medical students
preferred outpatient to inpatient psychiatry; they supported the view that
working with outpatients is more useful, rewarding, and educational for the
nonpsychiatrist physician. The implications of this study include the need
to increase the outpatient psychiatric experience in medical school, the
importance of surveying the impact of learning settings on students, and
the reasonableness of adapting the curriculum to the didactic needs of
students.
