Am J Psychiatry 1983; 140:1615-1618
Copyright © 1983 by American Psychiatric Association
Medical students' learning as primary therapists or as participant/observers in a psychiatric clerkship
JM Oldham, MH Sacks, JE Nininger, K Blank and RD Kaplan
The authors assessed two different inpatient models of clinical clerkships
in psychiatry on the basis of both an examination assessing amount of
learning and a survey of student attitudes. One clerkship model placed the
third-year medical student in the role of primary therapist; the other
model assigned each student to join a psychiatrist as a
participant/observer. No overall difference in objective assessment of
learning was found between the two groups of students, and student
attitudes generally favored the participant/observer model. These findings
suggest that the widespread bias favoring the primary therapist model may
not be justified.
