The Impact of Psychiatry Round on the Attitude of Medical Students towards Psychiatry as a Specialty and a Career

Abstract

Mental, neurological and substance use disorders accounted for 14% of the global burden of diseases, mental disorders are not only the highly prevalent medical conditions but also they are highly disabling ones. Moreover, there is increasing prevalence of psychiatric illnesses worldwide. Yet, Health systems have not adequately responded to the needs of mental disorders. As a result, the gap between the service needed and what actually provided is wide all over the world. Around 76% to 85% of people with mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries receive no treatment for their disorder. The same situation is seen in 35% to 50% of people with mental disorders in high-income countries. Decades of research aimed at recognizing attitudes towards psychiatry have found that, Stigma towards mental illness is an effective factor in negative views that students have towards psychiatry. So, recruitment rates to psychiatry training programs remain low in many countries. According to literature, psychiatry remains one of the least preferable medical specialties. Gradual decrease in the percentage of medical students pursuing psychiatry is noticed over the past 50 years. Most of the literature shows that medical students have negative or at best neutral attitude towards psychiatry. However, having a positive attitude towards psychiatry even does not guarantee selection of psychiatry as an area of professional specialization. Medical students tend to adopt an opinion that psychiatrists practice outside mainstream medicine, earn less money, have less prestige and are less respected. Moreover, psychiatric patients are seen difficult to be interviewed, suffer from chronic illnesses with a poor prognosis. The assumption of high rate of psychiatric morbidity in psychiatrists is one of the main causes of not choosing psychiatry as a career. Psychiatrists get personally involved with their patients; as a consequence, the mental burden of their profession is at times immense. The other reported causes include stigma, stress and attitude of non-psychiatric physicians.