An Evaluation of the First Clinical Posting in Psychiatry of the Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Students in India

Background: The new competency-based medical education (CBME) curriculum presents an opportunity to address the many deficiencies in undergraduate (UG) psychiatry education in India. There are no published reports of such evaluations of psychiatry teaching programs based on the new CBME curriculum. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional evaluation of the first clinical posting in psychiatry of the new CBME curriculum using the following metrics: clinical skills, knowledge, attitudes towards psychiatry, self-efficacy in performing the specific learning objectives (SLOs), and satisfaction with specific teaching-learning and assessment methods implemented. Results: The mean knowledge score after the posting was significantly higher compared to the mean knowledge score at baseline (7.79 vs 5.45, p<0.001). The mean clinical skills score after the posting was 13.77 (0-20 range). Improvement was noted in the mean scores on all three sub-scales of the attitudes toward psychiatry scale. However, the improvement in scores was statistically significant only on the 'Stigma of Psychiatry' sub-scale. The mean scores on the items of the self-efficacy scale were between 63.41 and 77.73 (0-100 range). The mean scores on all items of the satisfaction scale were between 4 (somewhat satisfied) and 5 (very satisfied). Conclusion: We have described an evaluation of the first clinical posting in psychiatry of the new CBME curriculum. The posting was effective in imparting knowledge and clinical skills and potentially bringing about favorable changes in the attitudes toward psychiatry among UG medical students. The students also perceived confidence in performing the SLOs and were satisfied with the teaching-learning methods and assessment methods implemented.