Early Psychiatry - introduction to psychiatry for bachelor students

Introduction: Early interest in psychiatry amongst medical students is a key predictor for pursuing a career within the field. At Copenhagen University, psychiatry is introduced in the final years of the medical school curriculum.
This study aims to create new inspiring psychiatric content to the bachelor curriculum and to investigate the effect of early incorporation of psychiatry on student’s perception of psychiatry as a medical specialty and future choice of career.
Method: 15 educational videos specifically tailored to complement three courses in the bachelor curriculum was developed based on ongoing feedback from medical students, young doctors, and video production experts. The videos present young doctors views on psychiatric topics.
20 semi-structured interviews of medical students were conducted to explore their experiences and perspectives. The data is currently being analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify key themes and patterns of meaning across the dataset.
Results: 15 videos have been published. Implementation in the university learning platform is under way.
Preliminary themes of the qualitative research will be presented at the conference, as the analysis is ongoing and not yet complete.
Discussion: Although the Study Board of Copenhagen University aims to incorporate a stronger clinical perspective into the bachelor curriculum, this remains a significant practical challenge and may greatly influence whether students can fully benefit from the intervention.
Conclusion: Close collaboration with course coordinators and lectures of every course is necessary to ensure an effective integration of the clinical perspective into the curriculum.