Consultation-Liaison and Inpatient Psychiatry Clerkships: Comparison of Learning Outcomes and Student Attitudes

Abstract

Medical students at the Tulane University School of Medicine were randomly assigned to either a consultation liaison setting (N=35) or inpatient psychiatry setting (N=59) for their four week junior clerkship in psychiatry. No significant differences in factual core knowledge were revealed in the departmental exam between the two groups. Student attitudes were positive about the role of psychiatry in the consultation liaison setting and both groups accepted a holistic/humanistic approach to patient care. Students in both groups were equivocal in their opinion about the futility of much of the practice of psychiatry and leaned toward rejecting the notion that the knowledge and technology of psychiatry is sufficient to handle its patients. None of the three areas generated a significant difference in attitudes between the consultation liaison and inpatient psychiatry students. This study demonstrates that the consultation liaison clerkship fulfills the departmental goals for the education of third year students. Furthermore, the study calls upon psychiatric educators to convey to the students the advances in the field and to acquaint them with the therapeutic tools at their disposal in a positive, enthusiastic manner.