The Effect of Passing the Psychiatric Clerkship on Consideration of Various Specialties as Priorities in Prospective Field and Respect for Clinical Specialties in Medical Students

Introduction: The number of medical students choosing psychiatry as specialty is declining in some countries. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of passing the psychiatric clerkship on consideration of various specialties as prospective career options and their respect for clinical specialties in medical students. Methods: In this analytical study, the sample included 104 fifth year medical students of Jundishapur University in Ahwaz who started psychiatric clerkship between spring 2007 and spring 2010. The subjects completed a demographic form, an attitude toward psychiatry questionnaire and a questionnaire to assess priorities and respect for clinical specialties, before and after their psychiatric clerkship. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation coefficient, and paired sample t-test. Results: The results showed that mean of total scores of attitude before (42.36±9.18), and after psychiatry rotation (47.78±6.86) were significantly different (t=-5.45, p=.001). The mean score of subscales of “overall merits of psychiatry’, “role definition and functioning of psychiatrists”, and “career and personal rewards” were also changed significantly (p<0.001), also score for “possible abuses and social criticisms”, improved significantly(p=0.01) after psychiatric clerkship, but there was no significant difference in “efficacy” subscale (p=0.14). In the priorities of students before and after passing the psychiatric clerkship also there was no significant difference, as there was high positive correlation(r=0.80, p<0.001) between priorities order before and after the clerkship. Respect to psychiatry increased after passing the clerkship, but was still less than other specialties. Conclusion: Attitude toward psychiatry isn’t the only effective factor in choosing the specialty, and in spite of the significant improvement of students’ attitude toward psychiatry, it did not make a significant difference in their priorities. Although after the clerkship, respect to psychiatry increased, it was still less than respect for other specialties.