Medical student education in psychiatry: An international affair

摘要

In this issue of Academic Psychiatry, we share a group of international papers which broaden our understanding of the current state of education for medical students of psychiatry and the perspectives of the teachers engaged in this rewarding and challenging endeavor. From a global perspective, developing countries and those with established health care systems stand to learn from each other [1], and this cluster of articles on medical student education represents a wealth of information from around the world: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Iran, Ireland, Nigeria, Spain, and the USA. From our perspective, these papers form a triptych illustrating cross-cultural efforts among clinicians, researchers, and educators to promote psychiatry and to support teaching about mental health and illness. Three themes emerge from this cluster on medical student education: (1) identifying psychological distress and attitudes about psychiatry and mental illness; (2) the need to support teachers in psychiatric education and efforts to do so; and (3) novel teaching interventions.