Abstract
Objective
The medical school a student attends appears to be a factor in whether students eventually match into psychiatry. Knowledge of which factors are associated with medical schools with higher recruitment rates into psychiatry may assist in developing strategies to increase recruitment.
Methods
Psychiatry leaders in medical student education in the 25 highest and lowest recruiting US allopathic schools were surveyed concerning various factors that could be important such as curriculum, educational leadership, and presence of anti-psychiatry stigma. The relationship between the survey results of high recruiting schools versus those of low recruiting schools was evaluated using Mann-Whitney U tests.
Results
Factors significantly associated (p < .05) with higher recruiting schools included better reputation of the psychiatry department and residents, perceived higher respect for psychiatry among non-psychiatry faculty, less perception that students dissuaded other students from pursuing psychiatry, and longer clerkship length.
Conclusions
Educational culture and climate factors may have a significant impact on psychiatry recruitment rates. Clerkship length was associated with higher recruiting schools, but several previous studies with more complete samples have not shown this.
References
Brockington I, Mumford D. Recruitment into psychiatry. Brit J Psychiatry. 2002;180(4):307–12.
Davies T. Recruitment into psychiatry: quantitative myths and qualitative challenges. Brit J Psychiatry. 2013;202:163–5.
Goldacre M, Fazel S, Smith F, Lambert T. Choice and rejection of psychiatry as a career: surveys of UK medical graduates from 1974 to 2009. Brit J Psychiatry. 2013;202:228–34.
Mukherjee K, Maier M, Wessely S. UK crisis in recruitment into psychiatric training. Psychiatrist. 2013;37:210–4.
Henfrey H. Psychiatry—recruitment crisis or opportunity for change? Brit J Psychiatry. 2015;207:1–2.
Barton M, Eagles J. Factors that discourage medical students from pursuing a career in psychiatry. Psychiatrist. 2011;35:425–9.
Halder N, Hadjidemetriou C, Pearson R, Farooq K, Lydall G, Malik A, et al. Student career choice in psychiatry: findings from 18 UK medical schools. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2013;25:438–44.
Wiesenfeld L, Abbey S, Takahashi SG, Abrahams C. Choosing psychiatry as a career: motivators and deterrence at a critical decision-making juncture. Can J Psychiatry. 2014;59(8):450–4.
Lau T, Zamani D, Lee EK, Asli KD, Gill J, Brager N, et al. Factors affecting recruitment into psychiatry: a Canadian experience. Acad Psychiatry. 39:246-252.
Farooq K et al. Why medical students choose psychiatry—a 20 country cross-sectional survey. BMC Med Educ. 2014;14:12.
Farooq K, Lydall G, Bhugra D. What attracts medical students towards psychiatry? A review of factors before and during medical school. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2013;25:371–7.
Fiorillo A, Malik A, Luciano M, Del Vecchio V, Sampogna G, Del Gaudio L, et al. Challenges for trainees in psychiatry and early career psychiatrists. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2013;25(4):431–7.
Katschnig H. Are psychiatrists an endangered species? Observations on internal and external challenges to the profession. World Psychiatry. 2010;9(1):21–8.
Lydall G, Farooq K, Malik A, Bhugra D. Medical students in psychiatry. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2013;25(4):365.
Recent studies and reports on physician shortages in the US. American Association of Medical Colleges, August 2011. https://www.aamc.org/download/100598/data/. Accessed 18 May 2015.
Roberts LW, Ohayon M, Coverdale J, et al. Strengthening psychiatry’s numbers. Acad Psychiatry. 2013;37(5):293–6.
Sielres F, Taylor M. Decline of U.S. medical student career choice of psychiatry and what to do about it. Am J Psychiatry. 1995;152:1416–26.
National Resident Matching Program, Results and Data: 2015 Main Residency MatchSM. National Resident Matching Program, Washington, DC. 2001-15. http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ADT2015_final.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2015.
Leung K, Awani T, Chima C. What can qualitative studies reveal about recruitment into psychiatry? Acad Psychiatry. 2015;39:286–92.
Lyons A, Janca A. Impact of a psychiatry clerkship on stigma, attitudes toward psychiatry, and psychiatry as a career choice. BMC Med Educ. 2015;15:34.
Balon R, Franchini G, Freeman P, et al. Medical students’ attitudes and views of psychiatry: 15 years later. Acad Psychiatry. 1999;23:30–6.
Weissman SH. Recommendations from the May 1992 conference to enhance recruitment of U.S. medical graduates into psychiatry. Acad Psychiatry. 1993;17:180–5.
Weissman S, Haynes R, Killian C, Robinowitz C. A model to determine the influence of medical students’ career choices: psychiatry, a case study. Acad Med. 1994;69:58–9.
Resident Census and GME Survey. 2000-14. http://www.psychiatry.org/learn/research--training/resident-census. Accessed 18 May 2015.
Sierles FS. Medical school factors and career choice of psychiatry. Am J Psychiatry. 1982;139:1040–2.
Sierles FS, Dinwiddie SH, Patroi D, Atre-Vaidya N, Schrift MJ, Woodard JL. Factors affecting medical student career choice of psychiatry from 1999 to 2001. Acad Psychiatry. 2003;27:260–8.
Brown T, Addie K, Eagles J. Recruitment into psychiatry: views of consultants in Scotland. Psychiatr Bull. 2007;31:411–3.
Lambert T, Turner G, Fazel S, Goldacre M. Reasons why some UK medical graduates who initially choose psychiatry did not pursue it as a long-term career. Psychol Med. 2006;36:679–84.
Bhugra D, Sartorius N, Fiorillo A, Evans-Lacko S, Ventriglio A, Hermans MH, et al. EPA guidance on how to improve the image of psychiatry and of the psychiatrist. Eur Psychiatry. 2015;30:423–30.
Serby M, Schmeideler J, Smith J. Acad Psychiatry. 2002;26(2):102–4.
Year Two Questionnaire (Y2Q). https://www.aamc.org/data/y2q/. Accessed 15 November 2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Disclosure
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spollen, J.J., Beck Dallaghan, G.L., Briscoe, G.W. et al. Medical School Factors Associated with Higher Rates of Recruitment into Psychiatry. Acad Psychiatry 41, 233–238 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-016-0522-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-016-0522-2