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Who wants to do psychiatry?

The influence of a student psychotherapy scheme – a10-year retrospective study

Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, Department of Psychotherapy, Department of Psychological Medicine, University College Hospital, 4th Floor, Cecil Flemming House, Grafton Way, Gower Street, London WC1E 6AU.

Peter Shoenberg

Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, University College Hospital and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University College London

Austin Heady

Assistant Director (retired) of the MRC Social Medicine Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Reader Emeritus in Medical Statistics, University of London

Declaration of interest

None.

Correspondence: E-mail: jyakeley{at}aol.com

AIMS AND METHOD

The study aimed to determine whether medical students who participated in a student psychotherapy scheme aimed at helping them learn about the doctor-patient relationship were more likely to choose psychiatry as a career than a control group who did not participate. One hundred and ninety-eight medical students who participated in the University College and Middlesex School of Medicine (UCMSM) Psychotherapy Scheme between 1982 and 1992, and 200 randomly selected students of the same period who did not, were sent a questionnaire asking about career choice.

RESULTS

Seventy-seven of 163 participants in the scheme who sent back the questionnaire had not thought about doing psychiatry before entering the scheme. Of these, 11 became psychiatrists (14.3%), compared with only two (1.6%) of the 128 controls (of 152 respondents) who had not considered psychiatry as a career at the same stage. This difference is highly significant (P<0.001). Many of the participants, including those who did not specialise in psychiatry, emphasised how the scheme had helped them understand the doctor-patient relationship.

IMPLICATIONS

Participating in the Student Psychotherapy Scheme encouraged medical students to choose psychiatry as a career. This knowledge is important, particularly in view of the current recruitment crisis in psychiatry.

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