Emergency psychiatry training for third-year medical students as reported by directors of medical student education in psychiatry

Background: Physicians can expect to confront a variety of psychiatric emergencies during their careers. However medical schools are not required to teach emergency psychiatry and little is known about the content of existing instruction. Purposes: We conducted this survey to better understand the emergency psychiatry experiences provided to 3rd-year medical students. Methods: Directors of medical student education in psychiatry at U.S. medical schools were mailed a 1-page questionnaire about their school's instruction in emergency psychiatry. Results: We received 74 responses from the 122 U. S. medical schools (61%). All but 4 reported emergency psychiatry instruction. The number of hours and type of settings students were on-call varied greatly from school to school, as did the scope of faculty supervision. Conclusions: Most schools provide emergency psychiatry instruction, but methods vary among institutions. Given its importance, medical schools should work to provide uniformity in the way emergency psychiatry is taught. Copyright (C) 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.