The Medical Student Education Program is directed by Darlene Shaw, Ph.D. who won the 2005 MUSC Health Sciences Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Educator-Mentor category. The Department provides required course work in each year of the medical student curriculum, with each course, building upon the previous one. In addition to the required courses, the Department provides numerous 4-week electives available to 4th year students. Students take the Behavioral Sciences in Medical Practice (BSMP) course during the fall semester of their 1st year. The course is integrated with other courses in the Doctoring Curriculum and is graded Pass/Fail/Honors. Students learn about normal developmental issues across the lifespan and, using a case-based format, learn about basic psychological and behavioral sciences principles. Students also learn effective interviewing techniques through interviews of simulated patients. In the spring semester of the students’ 2nd year, students take the Psychopathology course, which uses primarily a lecture format to introduce students to basic information about the major psychiatric diagnostic groups including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and others. In 2005, Chris Pelic, M.D., the Course Director for the Psychopathology course, was selected by the 2nd year students to receive the MUSC Health Sciences Award for the best teacher in that semester. Students are graded in the Psychopathology course using a 4.0 scale. During their 3rd year, students take a required 6-week clerkship in psychiatry. We believe students learn best when they are directly involved in patients’ care and are an integral member of the treatment team. Each student is assigned to an inpatient unit at the MUSC Institute of Psychiatry or at the VAMC. The inpatient experience is paired with an outpatient assignment for the equivalent of 1 day per week for 5 weeks. Lectures, case conferences, and on-call experiences round out the clerkship. Students’ performance is evaluated by their attending physician and residents, comprising 60% of the students’ final grade. The National Board Shelf exam is also used to assess students’ knowledge base, and counts 40% of the students’ final grade. In addition, students complete an objective standardized clinical exam (OSCE) at the end of the clerkship, which requires them to demonstrate sound interviewing skills, data gathering abilities, diagnostic abilities, and treatment plan formulation. The OSCE is graded on a Fail/Pass/High Pass/Honors basis. Students are evaluated in the 3rd-year clerkship using a 4.0 scale and the top 15% of the class receives Honors in Psychiatry. In addition, at the end of each rotation, a student may be selected to be the Outstanding Student in that rotation. MUSC students score above the national mean on the National Board Shelf exam administered at the end of each clerkship. Moreover, on the USMLE Step 2 Exam, MUSC’s students’ scores on the psychiatry-related content areas were among their highest scores. In addition, 3rd-year students are given the option of taking up to two 3-week selectives. During the 4th-year, students may sign up for Psychiatry Electives. Electives are graded on a Pass/Fail/Honors basis. In all our course offerings for medical students, we employ a continuous quality improvement model. The importance of student feedback is highlighted by our annual tradition of awarding teaching excellence awards to faculty members and residents based upon students’ ratings of their teaching. In addition to providing students a solid knowledge base in Psychiatry, our courses and clerkships instill in students effective communication skills and patient management skills that will be important in their work with patients in all walks of medicine. We also provide an excellent introduction to Psychiatry as a career, and Dr. Shaw and other faculty members welcome inquiries about Psychiatry residences at MUSC and other universities. We also welcome students from other universities in our electives, and encourage students to participate in our Psychiatry Interest Group. |
