The perceived long-term impact of a psychiatry clerkship on personal growth and clinical skills.

The authors investigated the effects of a psychiatry clerkship that over 14 years has had a constant training philosophy and faculty and has been located in the same acute general hospital setting. In the study, 169 graduates completed a questionnaire on the effects of the clerkship on their knowledge of psychiatry, management of emotional problems in their patients, and personal development. Based on the graduates' responses, the results reveal that the clerkship indeed has had a lasting impact on its former students. Possible implications for recruitment of students into psychiatry are discussed.

Geophagia in a chronic hemodialysis patient.

Geophagia, the deliberate ingestion of earth, is a serious clinical problem, particularly for dialysis patients. This article presents a geophagic patient with end stage renal disease and reviews the etiology, consequences and treatment of this disorder.

Self-mutilation resulting in bacterial meningitis.

Self-mutilation and particularly self-destructive dermatoses are not usually life-threatening. This case involves a man who met the DSM-III R diagnostic criteria for delusional (paranoid) disorder, somatic type. His destructive behavior involving the face and scalp resulted in osteomyelitis and pneumococcal meningitis. He responded to treatment initially, but was later lost to follow-up. No similar case of self-mutilation has been reported.