Exploring Career Choice Among Black Psychiatry Interns: an Exploratory Qualitative Study.

OBJECTIVE: Relative to the Black American population size, there is an underrepresentation of Black psychiatrists in the USA. In order to address this issue, it is important to explore factors that contribute to Black medical students' decision to pursue a career in psychiatry. METHODS: First-year psychiatry residents who identify as Black (N = 7) were interviewed. Career Construction Theory provided a structured framework for the interview process. For qualitative analysis of data, codes were assigned to reflect concepts and develop themes. RESULTS: All participants mentioned the impact of being a Black psychiatrist in the Black community, the influence of strong female role models on their life, and the importance of the fit between their personality and the work done within psychiatry. The majority of interviewees identified macro-level and cultural events that had influenced them and discussed a desire for advocacy and the influence of Black role models, perseverance, and the importance of work-life balance. CONCLUSION: This qualitative study identified many influential factors that were deemed important to Black interns in their decision to pursue a residency in psychiatry. With the information learned from these interviews, educators within psychiatry can bolster their support of Black medical students, encourage pursuit of a career in psychiatry, and ultimately, work toward reducing disparities in psychiatric care. Future research should examine additional collective notions of career decision-making.

Elements of an Excellent Psychiatry Clerkship Experience: A Survey Study of Graduating Medical Students.

OBJECTIVE: One possible factor associated with choosing psychiatry as a career is students rating their psychiatry clerkship as excellent. Although this suggests that an excellent clerkship may improve recruitment into psychiatry, to our knowledge there has never been a multi-site survey study of graduating medical students that identify what factors lead to an excellent clerkship rating. The purpose of this study was to determine factors that medical student find important for an excellent psychiatry clerkship experience. METHODS: A total of 1457 graduating medical students at eight institutions were sent a 22-item Likert-type survey about what clinical and administrative factors they considered when rating their psychiatry clerkship via email in the fall of their last year. 357 (24.5%) responded and Z-test, t-tests, and multiple regression analyses were carried out. RESULTS: The factors which students rated higher than the mean included planned application to psychiatry residency, clear expectations, a transparent grading process, feeling part of a team, timely feedback by faculty, and a competent clerkship coordinator and director. Lectures, active learning, and self-study were rated as less pertinent, and the overall clerkship rating did differ between students going into psychiatry versus other specialties. CONCLUSIONS: Although the low response undermines the validity of findings, by improving the administration of the clerkship with clear expectations, grading, feedback, and by encouraging clinical teams to fully integrate students clerkship ratings might improve which could potentially improve recruitment. Future research could further quantify and qualify these parameters and compare psychiatric clerkships to other clerkships.