How is psychiatry taught to Australian and New Zealand medical students?

Abstract

This study aimed to describe the amount, format and content of psychiatry teaching programs in all 12 Australian and New Zealand medical schools. A structured questionnaire which included definitions and coding instructions was completed by class coordinators for the years of 1995 or 1996. Missing and inconsistent data were checked by coordinators and results were confirmed by heads of department. Most departments of psychiatry taught throughout the undergraduate course. Only three made no contribution to pre-clinical teaching. The time devoted to clinical tuition ranged from 279 to 454 h per university with a mean of 353 h. Clinical attachments occupied most time (mean = 70%), followed by small group teaching (mean = 19%) and lectures (mean = 11%). Medical schools varied greatly in the attention given to history taking and mental state examination, psychological therapies and the sub-specialties of child and aged psychiatry. Clinical attachments were mostly to adult inpatient units. Private psychiatric hospitals and clinics were used infrequently as were consultation-liaison psychiatry services and primary care. There is a need to broaden the clinical experience of students to better equip them for future medical practice. There appears to be a serious mis-match between the settings in which most students are taught and the settings in which most will work later as non-psychiatric practitioners. It was disappointing that psychological therapies received so little attention given the central place of counselling in modern medical practice.