title: Medical students' learning as primary therapists or as participant/observers in a psychiatric clerkship.
abstract: The authors assessed two different inpatient models of clinical clerkships in psychiatry on the basis of both an examination assessing amount of learning and a survey of student attitudes. One clerkship model placed the third-year medical student in the role of primary therapist; the other model assigned each student to join a psychiatrist as a participant/observer. No overall difference in objective assessment of learning was found between the two groups of students, and student attitudes generally favored the participant/observer model. These findings suggest that the widespread bias favoring the primary therapist model may not be justified.
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000592:standards*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000193:education; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods