Elements of an Excellent Psychiatry Clerkship Experience: A Survey Study of Graduating Medical Students.

Objective: One possible factor associated with choosing psychiatry as a career is students rating their psychiatry clerkship as excellent. Although this suggests that an excellent clerkship may improve recruitment into psychiatry, to our knowledge there has never been a multi-site survey study of graduating medical students that identify what factors lead to an excellent clerkship rating. The purpose of this study was to determine factors that medical student find important for an excellent psychiatry clerkship experience.

A Psychiatric-Specific Entrustable Professional Activity for the Evaluation of Prospective Psychiatric Residents: Towards a National Standard.

Introduction: Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) were developed as a way to ensure adequate skills of the medical school graduate. While the 12 EPAs apply to all medical specialties, EPA 1, "Gather a history and perform a physical examination," applies most explicitly to psychiatry through the performance of a mental status exam. Although proficiency in performing a psychiatric interview and mental status exam evolves throughout a psychiatrist's professional life, basic proficiency is essential in order to function as a psychiatry intern.

Faculty development effects on clerkship grades.

Background: Faculty member assessment of clerkship students' clinical performance has been noted as a consistently problematic issue within most medical student clerkships, and thus a worthy target of faculty development. One of the primary challenges in such faculty development is creating a change that improves the clinical assessment of students in a meaningful way.

Method: In the current study we evaluated the effects of a pair of brief interventions designed to facilitate greater use of the 'Not observed' option in faculty member assessments of clerkship students (as opposed to use of 'Meets expectations' for skills actually not observed by the rater) within a psychiatry rotation for third-year medical students in the USA.

Involuntary Processes: Knowledge Base of Health Care Professionals in a Tertiary Medical Center in Upstate South Carolina.

The involuntary hospitalization law provides a means by which love ones, caregivers and healthcare professionals can intervene when a mentally ill patient is a danger to self or others. Our study assessed the knowledge of professionals in one of the Greenville Health System (GHS) emergency department (ED) about the involuntary hospitalization process of mental health patients in South Carolina (SC). An eight item survey on the South Carolina involuntary hospitalization and commitment process was developed and distributed to GHS ED staff including: physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers and technicians.

Marijuana-induced mania in a healthy adolescent: a case report.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal substance by adolescents in the United States. According to a 2009 survey conducted by Monitoring the Future, there were about 11.8% of 8th graders, 26.

Panic-attack-induced transient leukocytosis in a healthy male: a case report.

The lifetime prevalence of panic attacks is 28.3% in American adults 18 years and older. The age of onset of panic attack extends throughout adulthood; however, it typically develops in early adulthood, with median age of onset of 22 years [Kessler R.

Panic as a harbinger of pancreatic cancer.

Background: Previous literature has discussed the diagnosis of cancer with psychiatric symptoms. There are noted associations made between pancreatic cancer and depression and anxiety symptoms both in literature and textbooks.

Method: The authors discuss the case of a patient who presented with anxiety and panic attacks before his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Etomidate and unpredicted seizures during electroconvulsive therapy.

Electroconvulsive therapy has been a novel treatment for about half a century, effective for severe psychiatric conditions. Over the years, the treatment has been refined with the addition of anesthesia. Different inducing agents have been used in clinical practice over the last few decades including propofol, methohexital, and etomidate.

Language and cultural barriers in the assessment of enemy prisoners of war and other foreign nationals.

The authors describe difficulties encountered in the assessment and treatment of enemy prisoners of war and foreign civilians during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Of prime concern was the complexity of evaluating and working with patients through translators. Secondary concerns included self-protective behaviors of and fears experienced by patients, which complicated the patient-provider relationship.