The effects of teaching medical students psychotherapy skills in the outpatient department.

A psychiatric clerkship which emphasizes a clinical exposure to the conduct of outpatient psychodynamic psychotherapy is described and evaluated. Compared to more traditional inpatient based clerkships, an outpatient psychotherapy-oriented clerkship attracts significantly greater numbers of students. In addition, medical students taking such a rotation rate its educational value on its completion significantly more positively compared to other clerkship sites. Finally, students taking the psychotherapy oriented clerkship opt for psychiatry as a specialty significantly more frequently than students taking the more traditional clerkships. The impact of such a learning experience on interpersonal skills with non-psychiatric, medical patients is also discussed.