Recruitment to psychiatry in the Czech Republic: ‘Waiting for resuscitation’?

Abstract

Recruitment to psychiatry is becoming a serious obstacle in providing first-class mental health treatment in many countries worldwide. We attempt to address this burning issue by examining medical student's attitudes towards psychiatry and factors influencing their career choice in the Czech Republic. In 2010, 71 students in their last year of medical school at the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague were recruited in this quantitative cross-sectional online study. From the sample, 16% (n = 11) of students were considering psychiatry as a career path. An important factor in choosing psychiatry as a career path was personal/family presence of mental illness. Longer experience with psychiatry placement also contributed to the choice of psychiatry, as well as participation in elective courses or psychiatric research projects. Students considering psychiatry were less systematic compared to the group not considering psychiatry. Low reported levels of recruitment to psychiatry present a problematic issue in the Czech Republic. To make psychiatry more appealing to medical students, proactive steps by the relevant stakeholders need to be implemented. These strategies should include steps such as allocating more time for psychiatry in the medical curriculum, better quality of lectures, and the inclusion of additional elective courses.