Psychiatry clerkship students' preparation, reflection, and results on the NBME Psychiatry Subject Exam.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Psychiatry clerkship training involves many learning components, one of which is acquisition of scholarly knowledge. The authors investigate the reading materials and learning methods used by clinical clerks in their preparation for the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Psychiatry Subject Exam (PSE). METHODS: Clerkship students from six U.S. medical schools who had recently completed their psychiatry clerkship and PSE were surveyed regarding reading material use, teaching methods encountered, and other relevant resources which may have influenced their PSE scores. RESULTS: The most frequently used PSE preparation material was a "step-or-prep" book, followed by practice questions, handouts, and assigned texts. No single preparation material type or combination proved significantly different in influencing PSE scores. The didactic methods used in clerkships did differ significantly in their influence on PSE scores. Students in the top quartile used slightly more books and different combinations of books than students in the bottom quartile. CONCLUSION: Students exhibited several trends in their preparation for the PSE. The most striking findings were the heavy student reliance on step-or-prep books over other learning resources and that step-or-prep books did not demonstrate significance as a superior preparation resource for the PSE. These trends in third-year psychiatric rotations have important implications for medical student education.

Author information

Author/s: Briscoe, Gregory W (GW); Fore-Arcand, Lisa (L); Levine, Ruth E (RE); Carlson, David L (DL); Spollen, John J (JJ); Pelic, Christopher (C); Al-Mateen, Cheryl S (CS);

Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA 23507, USA. briscogw(-atsign-)evms.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry (Acad Psychiatry), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2009 Mar-Apr; vol 33 (issue 2) : pp 120-4

Dates: Created 2009/04/28; Completed 2009/06/11;

PMID: 19398624, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/11/2009, IMS Date: 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.

See a large map of 100+ related articles.