Medical Students' Learning Process During Simulated Patient Consultations in Psychiatry: A Grounded Theory Study.

INTRODUCTION: Recent changes in psychiatric care and teaching, which limit patient contact for medical students, can be partially overcome by simulation-based education in psychiatry. The authors explored the learning processes of medical students during meetings with simulated patients to inform efforts to improve this teaching. METHODS: After recruiting 81 undergraduate medical students from 3 universities to participate in 6 simulation sessions in psychiatry, the authors purposively sampled 21 students to participate in face-to-face individual semistructured interviews analyzed with constructivist grounded theory. Integration of this analysis with those of the simulation consultation videotapes and the debriefing audiotapes improved the triangulation process. RESULTS: Three organizational themes were identified: developing and structuring representations of psychiatry; integrating subjectivity into learning; and refining and developing psychiatric praxis. Given the broad and in-depth learning that occurs, simulation in psychiatry should respect content validity of SP portrayals to ensure appropriate learning. However, psychological fidelity seems to provide adequate realism while retaining feasibility. Psychiatric simulation also requires the encouragement of student self-confidence and well-being. Within a reflective framework, simulation triggers cognitive reframing, which can alleviate fears and prejudice toward people with mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The holistic interactive learning process involved in simulation can address the complexity of the personal and interpersonal features needed in psychiatry.

[Suicide prevention and eHealth: towards personalized follow-up strategies?] / Prévention du suicide et santé connectée - Vers la personnalisation des soins ?

Suicide risk assessment usually rely on brief medical visit and does not report the evolution of this risk after the patient discharge. However, the reattempt risk is still high several months after the initial attempt. In these setting, long term suicide prevention of at risk subjects are challenging. Thanks to recent technological advances, electronic health (eHealth) data collection strategies now can provide access to real-time patient self-report data during the interval between visits. The extension of the clinical assessment to the patient environment and data processing using data mining will support medical decision making.