Medical student attitudes to psychiatry: lack of effect of psychiatric hospital experience.

Medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry before and after their final (sixth) year psychiatric clerkship at a large psychiatric hospital were measured. We anticipated that exposure to severe, chronic psychiatric illness would affect student attitudes, and we undertook this study to investigate the direction and parameters of attitude change. However, no significant change in attitude was found.

Staffing and funding of consultation-liaison psychiatry services in Australia and New Zealand.

The aim of the study was to establish the current and desired levels of staffing and funding of the 52 consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry training units in Australian and New Zealand general hospitals. Administration of a questionnaire and follow-up verification provided data on referral rates, existing and preferred staffing levels, and staff workloads. The referral rates and staffing levels in most cases fall below those quoted for Europe and the USA, and those considered optimal by the respondents.