Why students might lack interest in careers like psychiatry

Editor - I write in response to Boodells letter regarding a lack of interest in psychiatry among medical students.¹ It is my experience that such a lack of interest is not restricted to psychiatry but also applies to care of elderly people and general practice. I wonder if this is because these careers contain the largest element of social work as opposed to straight application of clinical skills and knowledge taught in didactic teaching sessions.

Although todays medical courses are structured to stress a holistic approach to patients, the unequivocal nature of much of the practice of the medical and surgical specialties will always mean that these attract more students than psychiatry, care of elderly people, and general practice, which focus more on problem solving in a broader, more socially oriented sense. Whether this discrepancy is something that can be examined and redressed by medical educators or is related to the deeply held preferences of those that are selected as medical students is unclear. However, the figures quoted in Boodells brief study point tantalisingly towards the former.

1. Boodell K. Students lack interest in careers in psychiatry. studentBMJ 2003;11:166. (May.)