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A Neurosciences-in-Psychiatry Curriculum Project for Medical Students

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Abstract

Objective

Incorporating new neuroscience findings relevant to psychiatry into the medical school curriculum is challenging, especially at the level of clinical learning. In this pilot project, third-year medical student volunteers in their required 8-week clerkship participated in an e-mail-based experience relating contemporary neuroscience to psychiatry.

Methods

A faculty preceptor guided participants using one of the participants’ patient work-ups as a platform to explore questions related to the neurosciences. Participants were surveyed for follow up.

Results

Eleven of 13 eligible students agreed to participate in the study during one academic year. Data is qualitative, consisting of the responses of the students and the formulations and feedback of the preceptor as the project proceeded.

Conclusion

Participants were successful in identifying symptom complexes in the sample history and in exploring their questions in the literature and with one another. The protocol is well-suited to distance learning, is relevant to psychiatric education, and is flexible in its application.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, 1722 Shaffer Rd, 3rd Floor, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 49048, USA

    David C. Dunstone M.D.

Authors
  1. David C. Dunstone M.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David C. Dunstone M.D..

Additional information

This study was presented in a workshop at the annual meeting of the Association for Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry, Montreal, Quebec, June, 2004.

The author thanks the students who participated in this study the faculty of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Department of Psychiatry for their support and encouragement, and Michael Liepman for his editorial assistance.

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Dunstone, D.C. A Neurosciences-in-Psychiatry Curriculum Project for Medical Students. Acad Psychiatry 30, 166–169 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.30.2.166

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.30.2.166

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