Teaching Psychiatric Interviewing as a Core Physician Skill

Abstract

The authors have developed an approach for teaching psychiatric interviewing that relates closely to the aspects of physical diagnosis that medical students are learning. This includes interview analogies to the physical exam skills of observation, palpation, auscultation, and percussion, as well as psychiatric review of systems. Relevance of interview techniques to medical management is dramatized by a medical anecdote. Techniques explained include: open-ended questions, using the patient’s coinage, use of silence, and reading nonverbal communication and connotations of verbal communication. Mental defense mechanisms are illustrated by examples relating to the student’s situation. The article provides sample wording actually used with students. Students receiving this approach showed significant (p <.01) improvement on an attitude scale compared to no significant change for control students in similar preceptorships without this approach.