Medical Students Attitude & Knowledge of Psychiatry an Impact of Psychiatry Posting

Abstract

India being a signatory to Alma-Ata declaration, envisaged ‘Health for all by the year 2000” and hence should look into training undergraduates in psychiatry. Medical students’ attitude towards psychiatry are determined by complex inter lacing variables. Low recruitment is a serious challenge for psychiatry worldwide. Moreover, psychiatry is poorly represented in medical education and undergraduate training in psychiatry and behavioral sciences in most medical colleges in India is unsatisfactory. Keeping these facts in mind, this study was carried out to assess the influence of psychiatry training, including direct patient contact on attitude of medical students towards mental illness. This study was conducted at Department of Psychiatry, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Science, Sevagram, Wardha, Maharashtra. Second year MBBS students were evaluated with a pre and posttest during their 2 weeks posting in the Psychiatry department. There was some improvement in attitude & knowledge of undergraduate medical students about mental health after two weeks of psychiatry posting. The improvement in male medical students is more than three times of that seen in female medical students, after two weeks of training. The existing M.C.I. recommendations need serious considerations for implementation in each & every Medical College of India. As per the current curriculum, the introduction to psychiatry is in the 1st term during lectures on behavioral sciences following which they not exposed again until the 5th semester when the undergraduate students are required to attend 40 hours lectures parallel to 4 weeks clinical posting culminating with compulsory short note questions worth 20 marks included in paper II of the General Medicine exam. Finally, another two weeks of psychiatry posting is mandatory during internship. Female medical students have shown deterioration in their attitudes & knowledge over more questions than male counterparts. Hence it can be deduced that, males tend to learn better by experience.