Objective: The objective of the psychiatry course is to familiarize medical students with the basic and clinical issues in psychiatry as practiced in the medical setting.

Contents of the Course: Teaching includes the following topics: Essential psychopathology (Description of the basic signs and symptoms of psychiatric disorders), the contribution of the basic sciences of psychiatry (Epidemiology, Neuroscience, Psychology), description of the clinical picture/diagnosis, aetiology, natural history/prognosis and management in a biopsychosocial context of the most important psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, depression and bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, substance-related disorders, dementia and delirium, eating disorders, somatoform and dissociative disorders, personality disorders, disorders first diagnosed in childhood or adolescence, topics of special interest (the suicidal patient, old age psychiatry, forensic psychiatry)

Mode of teaching and learning outcomes: The course combines both theoretical and clinical teaching in small groups of medical students (15 – 20 students per group). During the clinical placement the students are involved in all clinical activities, they attend the weekly grand round, they actively participate in the psychiatric examination of both inpatients and outpatients under the supervision of senior colleagues, they are expected to take up to three in-house calls (up until 23.00) and to prepare and submit a real patient case summary. After the completion of the clinical course all students will sit a written examination. Learning outcomes of the psychiatry course include: familiarization with the psychiatric patient, competence in basic clinical psychiatric skills for the general medical doctor (including mental status examination), knowledge of the diagnosis and practical management of the main psychiatric disorders in the context or primary care.

Hours of training per student: 130

Semester: 9° + 10° (rotation)

ECTS: 6