Comparison of two different curricula in psychiatry clerkship at tehran university of medical sciences.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a new psychiatry clerkship curriculum which was designed to improve the knowledge and skills of medical students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Iran.


METHODS
This quasi-experimental study was conducted in two consecutive semesters from February 2009 to January 2010. In total, 167 medical students participated in the study. In the first semester, as the control group, the clerks' training was based on the traditional curriculum. In the next semester, we constructed and applied a new curriculum based on the SPICES model (student-centered, problem-based, integrated, community-based, elective and systematic).At the end of the clerkship, the students were given two exams: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) to assess their knowledge, and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to assess their skills. Baseline data and test performance for each student were analyzed.


RESULTS
Compared to the control group, students in the intervention group showed significantly higher OSCE scores (P= 0.01). With respect to MCQ score, no significant difference was found between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that the revised curriculum is more effective than the traditional one in improving the required clinical skills in medical students during their psychiatry clerkship.
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Maryam
M
Tabatabaee
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Homayoun
H
Amini
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Fattaneh Abdi
FA
Masouleh
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Psychiatry and Psychology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ali-Akbar
AA
Nejatisafa
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Psychiatry and Psychology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad
M
Arbabi
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Majid
M
Sadeghi
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Vandad
V
Sharifi
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
S Ali
SA
Ahmadi-Abhari
Department of Internal Medicine, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences (CERMS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Azim
A
Mirzazadeh
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Emran Mohammad
EM
Razzaghi
Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ahmad Ali
AA
Noorbala
Clerkship; Curriculum; Education; Medical students; Psychiatry