The elective within the required psychiatric clerkship.

Two important goals of a successful psychiatric clerkship are to maximize students' responsibility and flexibility and to provide knowledge and skills relevant to their future careers. The author describes an elective program within the required medical school psychiatric clerkship that meets these criteria. On the basis of feedback from both students and staff, the author concludes that the advantages of the elective program to students, patients, faculty, and the department far outweigh the disadvantages.