Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:23:27.151Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Non-graduate and graduate entry medical students attitudes to psychiatry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2013

S. M. Pillay ,
F. Sundram ,
D. Mullins ,
N. Rizvi ,
T. Grant ,
M. Boohan  and
K. C. Murphy
S. M. Pillay*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
F. Sundram
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
D. Mullins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
N. Rizvi
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
T. Grant
Affiliation:
CSTAR, School of Public Health and Population Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
M. Boohan
Affiliation:
Centre for Medical Education, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland
K. C. Murphy
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr S. M. Pillay, Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland. (Email [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

Graduate entry medical students’ views of psychiatry may differ from those of school leavers. This study hypothesised that (i) exposure to a psychiatry attachment is associated with a positive change in attitudes towards psychiatry in both graduate entry and non-graduate entry students, (ii) graduate entry students exhibit a more positive attitude to psychiatry compared to non-graduate entry students and (iii) graduate entry students are more interested in a career in psychiatry than non-graduate entry students.

Methods

In this study 247 medical students (118 females and 129 males) completing their psychiatry rotation were invited to complete questionnaires examining career choice, attitudes to psychiatry and career attractiveness for a range of specialties including surgery, medicine, general practice and psychiatry before and after their psychiatry attachment. Questionnaires were distributed prior to commencement of their attachment and redistributed on the final day of the attachment.

Results

Of the 165 participants in the study, 75 students entered medicine via the traditional route (without a primary degree), 49 entered via the graduate entry programme and 41 had a primary degree. Overall, medical students displayed positive attitudes towards psychiatry. However, while there was an improvement in attitudes towards psychiatry and the career attractiveness of psychiatry on completion of the rotation, no differences were found between graduate and non-graduate entry students. Psychiatry and general practice had lower ratings for career attractiveness than other specialities. No significant changes were found in the first and second choice of specialty.

Conclusion

Our results show that improvements in attitude and career attractiveness do not necessarily correlate with increased choice of psychiatry as a specialty. Graduate entry has been considered a possible opportunity for increasing recruitment in psychiatry but our results suggest that this may not be the case. Follow-up studies are required to determine whether career attractiveness correlates with future career choice.

Keywords

Attitudescareer preferencesmedical studentspsychiatry
Type
Original Research
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 245 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aasland, OG, Rovik, JO, Wiers-Jenssen, J (2008). Legers motiver for valg av spesialitet under og etter studiet [Motives for choice of specialty during and after medical school]. Tidsskrift for den Norske laegeforening : tidsskrift for praktisk medicin, ny raekke 128, 1833–1837.Google Scholar
Al-Ansari, A, Alsadadi, A (2002). Attitude of Arabian Gulf University medical students towards psychiatry. Education for Health (Abingdon) 15, 180–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baboolal, NS, Hutchinson, GA (2007). Factors affecting future choice of specialty among first-year medical students of the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. Medical Education 41, 50–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernard, AW, Malone, M, Kman, NE, Caterino, JM, Khandelwal, S (2011). Medical student professionalism narratives: a thematic analysis and interdisciplinary comparative investigation. Boston Medical Center Emergency Medicine 11, 11.Google ScholarPubMed
Brockington, IF (2002). Recruitment into psychiatry. The British Journal of Psychiatry 180, 307–312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buchanan, A, Bhugra, D (1992). Attitude of the medical profession to psychiatry. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 85, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burra, P, Kalin, R, Leichner, P, Waldron, JJ, Handforth, JR, Jarrett, FJ, Amara, IB (1982). The ATP 30 – a scale for measuring medical students’ attitudes to psychiatry. Medical Education 16, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calkins, V, Wakeford, RE (1984). Graduate and mature entrants to medicine: changes in career intentions. Medical Education 18, 7–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Compton, MT, Frank, E, Elon, L, Carrera, J (2008). Changes in U.S. medical students’ specialty interests over the course of medical school. The Journal of General Internal Medicine 23, 1095–1100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cutler, JL, Alspector, SL, Harding, KJ, Wright, LL, Graham, MJ (2006). Medical students’ perceptions of psychiatry as a career choice. Academic Psychiatry 30, 144–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, T (2013). Recruitment into psychiatry: quantitative myths and qualitative challenges. The British Journal of Psychiatry 202, 163–165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Den Held, OM, Hegge, IR, van Schaik, DJ, van Balkom, AJ (2011). Medisch studenten en hun houding ten opzichte van het vak psychiatrie [Medical students and their attitude to psychiatry]. Tijdschr Psychiatr 53, 519–530.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Children (2008). Section K. Health service employment statistics. Dublin. (http://www.dohc.ie/statistics/health_statistics_2008.html)Google Scholar
Fazel, S, Ebmeier, KP (2009). Specialty choice in UK junior doctors: is psychiatry the least popular specialty for UK and international medical graduates? Boston Medical Center Medical Education 9, 77.Google ScholarPubMed
Feifel, D, Moutier, CY, Swerdlow, NR (1999). Attitudes toward psychiatry as a prospective career among students entering medical school. The American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 1397–1402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finucane, P, O'Dowd, T (2004). The career plans of Irish interns: results of a national survey. Irish Medical Journal 97, 149.Google ScholarPubMed
Fischel, T, Manna, H, Krivoy, A, Lewis, M, Weizman, A (2008). Does a clerkship in psychiatry contribute to changing medical students’ attitudes towards psychiatry? Academic Psychiatry 32, 147–150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Galletly, CA, Schrader, GD, Chesterman, HM, Tsourtos, G (1995). Medical student attitudes to psychiatry: lack of effect of psychiatric hospital experience. Medical Education 29, 449–451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geffen, LB (1991). The case for graduate schools of medicine in Australia. The Medical Journal of Australia 155, 737–740.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glynn, S, Reilly, M, Avalos, G, Mannion, L, Carney, P (2006). Attitudinal change toward psychiatry during undergraduate medical training in Ireland. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine 23, 131–133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldacre, MJ, Turner, G, Lambert, TW (2004). Variation by medical school in career choices of UK graduates of 1999 and 2000. Medical Education 38, 249–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldacre, MJ, Davidson, JM, Lambert, TW (2007). Career preferences of graduate and non-graduate entrants to medical schools in the UK. Medical Education 41, 349–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldacre, MJ, Davidson, JM, Lambert, TW (2008). The first house officer year: views of graduate and non-graduate entrants to medical school. Medical Education 42, 286–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldacre, M, Fazel, S, Smith, F, Lambert, T (2013). Choice and rejection of psychiatry as a career: surveys of UK medical graduates from 1974 to 2009. The British Journal of Psychiatry 202, 228–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hadlaczky, G, Stefenson, A, Wasserman, D (2012). The state of psychiatry in Sweden. International Review of Psychiatry (Abingdon, England) 24, 356–362.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hafferty, FW (1998). Beyond curriculum reform: confronting medicine's hidden curriculum. Academic Medicine 73, 403–407.
Holmes, D, Tumiel-Berhalter, LM, Zayas, LE, Watkins, R (2008). ‘Bashing’ of medical specialties: students’ experiences and recommendations. Family Medicine 40, 400–406.Google ScholarPubMed
Holm-Petersen, C, Vinge, S, Hansen, J, Gyrd-Hansen, D (2007). The impact of contact with psychiatry on senior medical students? Attitudes toward psychiatry. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 116, 308–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaques, H (2011). A third of psychiatry core training posts are vacant after round one of specialty recruitment. BMJ Careers. http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=20002682Google Scholar
Kuhnigk, O, Strebel, B, Schilauske, J, Jueptner, M (2007). Attitudes of medical students towards psychiatry: effects of training, courses in psychiatry, psychiatric experience and gender. Advances in Health Sciences Education. Theory and Practice 12, 87–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kumar, S, Robinson, E, Lau, T (2004). Administrators’ perspectives of the challenges in recruiting and retaining psychiatrists for New Zealand: a national study. The New Zealand Medical Journal 117, U1122.Google ScholarPubMed
Lambert, TW, Goldacre, MJ, Davidson, JM, Parkhouse, J (2001). Graduate status and age at entry to medical school as predictors of doctors’ choice of long-term career. Medical Education 35, 450–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lambert, TW, Turner, G, Fazel, S, Goldacre, MJ (2006). Reasons why some UK medical graduates who initially choose psychiatry do not pursue it as a long-term career. Psychological Medicine 36, 679–684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lampe, L, Coulston, C, Walter, G, Malhi, G (2010). Familiarity breeds respect: attitudes of medical students towards psychiatry following a clinical attachment. Australasian Psychiatry 18, 348–353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maidment, R, Livingston, G, Katona, M, Whitaker, E, Katona, C (2003). Carry on shrinking: career intentions and attitudes to psychiatry of prospective medical students. Psychiatric Bulletin 27, 30–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malhi, GS, Parker, GB, Parker, K, Carr, VJ, Kirkby, KC, Yellowlees, P, Boyce, P, Tonge, B (2003). Attitudes toward psychiatry among students entering medical school. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 107, 424–429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McParland, M, Noble, LM, Livingston, G, McManus, C (2003). The effect of a psychiatric attachment on students’ attitudes to and intention to pursue psychiatry as a career. Medical Education 37, 447–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mowbray, RM, Davies, BM, Biddle, N (1990). Psychiatry as a career choice. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 24, 57–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nemetz, P, Weiner, H (1965). Some factors in the choice of psychiatry as a career. Archives of General Psychiatry 13, 299–303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nielsen, AC III, Eaton, JS Jr (1981). Medical students’ attitudes about psychiatry: implications for psychiatric recruitment. Archives of General Psychiatry 38, 1144–1154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Connor, K, O'Loughlin, K, Somers, C, Wilson, L, Pillay, D, Brennan, D, Clarke, M, Guerandel, A, Casey, P, Malone, K, Lane, A (2012). Attitudes of medical students in Ireland towards psychiatry: comparison of students from 1994 and 2010. The Psychiatrist 36, 349–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prideaux, D, Teubner, J, Sefton, A, Field, M, Gordon, J, Price, D (2000). The consortium of graduate medical schools in Australia: formal and informal collaboration in medical education. Medical Education 34, 449–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, J (2004). Graduate entry medicine: what it is and what it isn't. Medical Education 38, 1130–1132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sefton, AJ (1995). Australian medical education in a time of change: a view from the University of Sydney. Medical Education 29, 181–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelley, RK, Webb, MG (1986). Does clinical clerkship alter students’ attitudes to a career choice of psychiatry? Medical Education 20, 330–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sierles, FS, Taylor, MA (1995). Decline of U.S. medical student career choice of psychiatry and what to do about it. The American Journal of Psychiatry 152, 1416–1426.Google Scholar
Sierles, FS, Dinwiddie, SH, Patroi, D, Atre-Vaidya, N, Schrift, MJ, Woodard, JL (2003). Factors affecting medical student career choice of psychiatry from 1999 to 2001. Academic Psychiatry 27, 260–268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sivakumar, K, Wilkinson, G, Toone, BK, Greer, S (1986). Attitudes to psychiatry in doctors at the end of their first post-graduate year: two-year follow-up of a cohort of medical students. Psychological Medicine 16, 457–460.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sloan, D, Browne, S, Meagher, D, Lane, A, Larkin, C, Casey, P, Walsh, N, O'Callaghan, E (1996). Attitudes toward psychiatry among Irish final year medical students. European Psychiatry 11, 407–411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Der Horst, K, Siegrist, M, Orlow, P, Giger, M (2010). Residents’ reasons for specialty choice: influence of gender, time, patient and career. Medical Education 44, 595–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Horn, PS, Green, KE, Martinussen, M (2009). Survey response rates and survey administration in counseling and clinical psychology: a meta-analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement 69, 389–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, H, Gelder, M (1999). Core curriculum in psychiatry for medical students. Medical Education 33, 204–211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weissman, SH, Haynes, RA, Killian, CD, Robinowitz, C (1994). A model to determine the influence of medical school on students’ career choices: psychiatry, a case study. Academic Medicine 69, 58–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wigney, T, Parker, G (2007). Medical student observations on a career in psychiatry. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 41, 726–731.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, DG, Greer, S, Toone, BK (1983). Medical students’ attitudes to psychiatry. Psychological Medicine 13, 185–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xavier, M, Almeida, JC (2010). Impact of clerkship in the attitudes toward psychiatry among Portuguese medical students. Boston Medical Center Medical Education 10, 56.Google ScholarPubMed
Zimny, GH, Sata, LS (1986). Influence of factors before and during medical school on choice of psychiatry as a specialty. The American Journal of Psychiatry 143, 77–80.Google ScholarPubMed