Contents:
1) Editorial
2) Inaugural Institute of Psychiatry and Royal
College of Psychiatrists Summer School
3) Careers in psychiatry - RCPsych conference in
Leicester
4) Top tips: Tackling the psychiatry OSCE
station
5) Cambridge University Psychiatry Society:
“Speed-dating the psychiatric specialties”
6) Medical elective in a Forensic Psychiatric
Hospital in Vancouver, Summer 2006
7) Film Review: Oil on Water (2006)
8) Medical
Student essay prize in forensic psychiatry
9) Spirituality and Psychiatry prize
10) The Professor Joan Bicknell Medical
Student essay prize
11) Medical
Student essay prize in old age psychiatry
12) Fancy writing an article for the next Student
Associate Newsletter?
1.
Editorial
Jude Harrison, Student Associate
Representative, Psychiatry Trainees’ Committee
It is an exciting time to
be a student interested in Psychiatry. This summer, the first ever
Royal College of Psychiatrists Summer School was held at the
Institute of Psychiatry in
London. An account of the summer school programme is
given by Emma Hogan.
Also in this newsletter, Samyami
Chowdhury reviews the free Undergraduate Conference
which took place in Leicester.
The academic year of
2009/10 looks set to be a great year for the psychiatry societies
which have been springing up in medical schools across the country.
Interest groups have been organising interesting and informative
events, such as Cambridge University Psychiatry Society’s
Psychiatry Speed Dating Evening; Hannah Short tells us how it
went.
Take time to have a look
at the fantastic prizes and bursaries offered by the College.
Details of the opportunities coming up in the next few weeks are
included here and a full list can be found on the RCPsych
website. I hope that many of you will
take advantage of the societies and prizes to become more involved
in undergraduate psychiatry and that we might see you at the
student events next year.
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2. Inaugural Institute of Psychiatry and Royal
College of Psychiatrists Summer School 20-24 July 2009
Emma Hogan, Medical
Student
The week of
20-24 July 2009 has been by far and away the best week of my
medical undergraduate education so far.
I was excited to hear
that my application to the Institute of Psychiatry and Royal
College of Psychiatrists summer school had been successful, but the
nerves and dry mouth soon set in as I stepped off the train at
Denmark Hill (home of the famous Maudsley hospital and Institute of
Psychiatry) on the morning of the 20 July. Was I making a terrible
mistake in spending the week in London, when I should officially be
making up the 80% attendance in the ophthalmology clinics of
Brighton?
The answer is a
resounding NO. The week comprised a whistlestop tour of most
aspects of psychiatry, including talks from SpRs in different
specialties; giving us insight into their work and lives. For many,
the highlights of the week were a tour of Bethlem Royal Hospital
and talking with patients from the River House medium secure
unit.
We were extremely
fortunate to have a talk from Professor Robin Murray (Maudsley
hospital) about his interest in schizophrenia and the link with
cannabis. This was inspirational, and I was later enthusing about
the talk with a consultant back at my medical school. His comment:
“He is amazing. They asked him to speak to you? Last time I tried
to hear him talk, it was standing room only”, boosted my
self-esteem enormously, and I went on to regale stories about the
grand round chaired by Professor Murray.
Other aspects of the week
included a tour of the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry
Centre (SGDP) which was an aspect of psychiatry I had naively not
considered, but this has whetted my appetite for the huge potential
for research in psychiatry.
On a lighter note, an
afternoon entitled “Psychiatry and the arts” included discussions
with Dr Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science, and Dr Avie Luthra, a
filmmaker, both of whom have successfully managed to combine their
careers with outside interests.
This was a great
opportunity to meet both students from other medical schools, and
psychiatrists who may one day be our colleagues. An evening at the
Royal College of Psychiatrists was a civilised way to do this, but
of course no week in the life of a medical student would be
complete without an evening out in the pub.
As with all ventures of
this type, much time and organisation has to go into making it
successful, and I am sure that the other students would agree with
me in wanting to thank all the staff involved in organising the
week – especially Professor Robert Howard (Dean of Royal College of
Psychiatrists) and the Psychiatric Trainees’ Committee
(particularly Dr Clare Oakley and Dr Mark Tarn).
Back to top
3. Careers in Psychiatry – RCPsych Conference in
Leicester
Samyami Chowdhury,
Medical Student
The
“Careers in Psychiatry” conference was held at the University of
Leicester at the end of June. Students and foundation doctors came
from across the UK, some of whom have already applied for
psychiatry and some who are still in the “career choice” thinking
zone.
The conference was
certainly packed full to the brim with careers information,
statistics, patient cases, experiences of psychiatrists, time for
questions, a bit of fun and plenty of food! There were a number of
speakers, to name a few: the Head of Psychiatry School,
East Midlands South, Dr Ann Boyle; the Telegraph columnist
and author, Max Pemberton; East Midlands Associate Postgraduate
Dean, Dr Jo Jones; and Associate Clinical Professor in Nottingham,
Dr Gill Doody. There were also core trainees who shared their
experience of working in psychiatry along with a film about what it
means to be a trainee psychiatrist. Information with entertainment
was welcomed by the audience!
An interesting part of
the session was the student presentations. The winning titles were
“Psychiatry and Transexuality” by a medical student and “Psychiatry
and the War” by an F1. All of the presentations gave detailed
accounts of their patients with a real insight as to why they
thought these patients were particularly interesting, and what it
was that grabbed their attention about them. Audience participation
was encouraged and kept everyone interested, not to mention
surprised with some of the content of the cases!
Max Pemberton shared his
experience of being a part time Old Age Psychiatrist and part time
Journalist. The theme for his talk was essentially that psychiatry
allows you to pursue other interests and bring them together.
Students were inspired by this and asked lots of questions
indicating their enthusiasm as well as genuine “how do you manage
two careers!” inquisitiveness.
Throughout the day there
was the opportunity to talk to the speakers, engage with some of
the current CT1s and find out as much as you could. Apart from
learning from the psychiatrists, we all mingled amongst ourselves
and found out a lot of information from each other. There was a
range of students from first year to final year which meant
conversation was broad! It was nice to be in a different
environment meeting different people with the same interests.
Dr Doody ended the day
with “so you think you can be a Psychiatrist” along with a “who
wants to be a millionaire” twist! The session was both fun and
informative opening our eyes to the reality of psychiatry which
left us all on a positive note.
The day was very well
thought out with inspiring and interesting speakers. I felt the
questions I had were answered and I came away feeling reassured,
encouraged and more focused. If any students are unsure about a
career in psychiatry or just want to find out more, then
conferences like this are a must!
Back to top
4. Top Tips: Tackling the Psychiatric OSCE
Station
Dr Declan Hyland, F2
Doctor
OSCE stations in
psychiatry tend to fill medical students with dread. Psychiatric
patients aren’t usually as forthcoming when it comes to providing
the interviewer with information as general medical patients are.
Examiners don’t usually use real psychiatric patients in medical
student OSCE exams, but you shouldn’t underestimate how
convincingly the actors employed can act psychotic or depressed as
required! There are several different OSCE scenarios in psychiatry
that you need to be familiar with – performing a mini mental state
examination on an elderly patient with likely dementia, assessment
of a depressed patient in A and E, assessment of a psychotic
patient being held in the police cells and assessment of a patient
with suspected alcohol dependence syndrome are the most likely to
come up in your medical student OSCE exams.
An OSCE station in which
you are asked to assess a patient for evidence of psychotic
phenomena can be particularly taxing. The key to succeeding in this
scenario is to try to establish good rapport with the patient from
an early stage. You will get marks for introducing yourself to the
patient, checking the patient’s name, explaining what the interview
is about and putting the patient at ease. The examiner will award
you for using appropriate body language (sit at 45 degrees to the
patient, not facing him/her), using open rather than closed
questions and clarifying any obscure terms used. The examiner will
be looking for you to establish the content of the patient’s
delusion, the fact that it is a false belief i.e. there is no
evidence for its existence, the patient is unshakeable in
explaining their delusion, and that you have confirmed that the
delusion is outside of the patient’s culture i.e. no-one agrees
with their delusion. The other psychopathology the examiner will
want you to tease out of the patient include: any evidence of
hallucinations, auditory and visual being the two commonest forms;
any evidence of abnormalities of thought i.e. thought
insertion, thought withdrawal, thought broadcast, thought echo; and
any evidence of somatic passivity. Several marks will be awarded
for showing empathy towards the patient and establishing a good
rapport as these demonstrate that you have competent interpersonal
skills, which are so paramount in psychiatry. Most importantly, you
should never forget to round off the interview in an appropriate
way. Always reflect back to the patient what he/she has told you
and invite the patient to ask you any questions they may have or
provide any information they require if you are able to do so.
Finally, thank the patient for agreeing to talk to you.
The key to successfully
passing an OSCE station in which you are required to interview a
psychotic patient hinges on your ability to establish a good
rapport with the patient (the patient may well have paranoid
delusions!) and use open-ended questions to try to tease as much
information as possible out of the patient so that you are able to
comment to the examiner on which psychopathology he/she
exhibits.
Back to top
5. Cambridge University Psychiatry Society:
“Speed-dating the Psychiatric Specialties”
Dr Hannah Short, FY1
Doctor
Cambridge University Psychiatry
Society was launched in March 2009 by Dr Meinou
Simmons (Specialty Registrar in Psychiatry), together with a group
of keen medical students. The first event, “Speed-dating the
Psychiatric Specialties”, came about as a response to Professor Rob
Howard’s (Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists) statement
that the profession was “in crisis” in terms of recruitment. The
evening was designed to introduce medical students to the aspects
of psychiatry that are often overlooked in traditional medical
education. Consultants, registrars and core trainees kindly gave up
their time and were seated at allocated “stations” whereby they
were approached by individual students to be questioned about their
specialty - its pros, its cons, the required training and so forth.
The idea was that each student moved round to each specialty in
turn.
"Speed-dating the
Psychiatric Specialties" was just the type of event I had been
hoping for. Having had an interest in psychiatry since the
beginning of medical school I had been disappointed in the lack of
information and opportunity presented to me when it actually came
to my psychiatry placement. Just six weeks long, we spent only two
weeks in each of General Adult (inpatient), General Adult
(Community) and Old Age (inpatient) Psychiatry. Where were the
Liaison Psychiatrists? What about Forensics? And Child &
Adolescent? Thankfully, the "Speed-dating" event gave me the chance
to explore all of these sub-specialties and more.
It was an evening
brimming with enthusiasm and I found it a welcome change to meet
with doctors who were wholeheartedly recommending their profession
and who genuinely seemed to enjoy their work. I had the chance to
hear about working within the field of drug addiction, adolescent
eating disorders and learn about research into childhood
depression, along with the latest news in the world of
neuropsychiatry. However, I would say the one downside to the
evening was that some students “hogged” certain specialties which
inevitably meant that others had relatively little time to ask
their questions. Maybe this is something that could be addressed if
future such events were to take place - one idea could be the
sounding of a bell after five minutes to signal the time to move
on?
Overall, I found the
event to be a fascinating evening that enabled me to forge links in
areas that fueled my interest, and it certainly helped to confirm
that psychiatry is the specialty for me.
Back to top
6. Medical Elective in a Forensic
Psychiatric Hospital in Vancouver, Summer 2006
Dr Declan Hyland, F2
Doctor
My first exposure
to the world of forensic psychiatry came when I was fortunate
enough to spend a day at Rampton Hospital, the high security
hospital in Nottinghamshire. I enjoyed my time there so much that I
decided that I wanted to do my elective in this field. The hospital
I chose was in Vancouver, Canada.
Forensic psychiatry is a specialty that involves interaction
between psychiatry and the law. The forensic psychiatrist works
with the courts to hammer out medico-legal issues such as criminal
responsibility and fitness to plead.
In Canada, as in many countries, when an accused person is charged
in court, the question of ‘fitness’ is always asked. The court
wishes to know whether the accused is mentally fit to stand trial
Alternatively, during the trial the court may determine that the
person did commit the crime but, because of his or her mental
condition at the time it was committed, a verdict of ‘not
criminally responsible on account of mental disorder’ could be
returned. If either of these issues arises, the accused is usually
sent to a forensic hospital (such as the one in which I was based)
under a 28-day assessment order. During my time at Vancouver
Forensic Psychiatric Hospital I had many opportunities to talk to
patients. Some of them had resided in the hospital for many years —
they had no other place to call home. I learnt a lot about their
past histories and misdemeanours.
Through sitting in outpatient clinics I was able to appreciate the
degree of follow-up that is provided for patients who are
considered mentally stable enough to reside in the community. One
thing I realised above all else was that these people who had
committed crimes had invariably led very tough and challenging
lives themselves.
I was given sole responsibility by my supervisor for producing a
court report for one of his patients who had been sent to the
forensic hospital under an assessment order. I realised quickly
that this task was not going to be easy, not least because I had a
mountain of paperwork from previous psychiatric admissions to read
through, as well as the entire police report of the crime in
question. I conducted several interviews with the accused to try to
establish whether he was fit to stand trial and whether he was
mentally ill at the time he committed the crime.
Trying to establish a rapport with forensic patients can be
extremely difficult. Often they will not speak to you very much
because they believe it may jeopardise their defence when they go
to court. After spending several hours talking with this young man,
my conclusion was that he was fit to stand trial and had not been
experiencing any psychiatric symptoms at the time of the
offence.
The full elective report can be viewed on the College
website.
Back to top
7. Film Review: Oil on Water (2006)
Dr Leverne Mountany, Consultant
Psychiatrist
“This is schizophrenia,
and I think my boy has it too” – quote by Max’s father from Oil on
Water.
This film introduces us
to two main characters Max and Anna a seemingly ordinary young
couple in love. It takes us on a journey through their every day
lives, from university, to meeting their friends and family. We
also see the budding young artist, Max, exploring his creative
talents with his palette, canvas and easel.
It is as part of this
creative process that we witness the progressive deterioration of
Max and his increasingly bizarre behaviour. We get a glimpse of how
this affects the person closest to him (Anna) as well as his
extended family.
This is definitely not a
feel good movie, but a realistic look at the development of a
psychotic process. The film has won various awards, amongst others
– Winner Best Feature Film: Everglades International Film Festival
2007.
It was written and
produced by Elle Matthews to create awareness around schizophrenia
and its influence on people’s lives. There are moments of
brilliance in the film, unfortunately interrupted by monotonous
scenes with Anna (Bianca Lishansky) as the narrator. The absolute
beautiful cinematography is inspirational and future projects of
first time feature film director Pete Matthews should be watched
with interest.
Oil on water was filmed
on site in Kwazulu-Natal, a magical part of South Africa. A proudly
South African product worth watching.
Rating: B +
Website: http://www.oilonwater-movie.com/
Back to top
8. Medical Student essay prize in forensic
psychiatry
This prize has
been established by the Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry for an essay
on a topic relating to forensic psychiatry. The aim of the
prize is to raise the profile of forensic psychiatry, and to give
interested medical students an opportunity to pursue further
studies in forensic psychiatry. Essays should be submitted by
email.
Prize: £300
Frequency: Annually
Eligible: Medical students who submit the essay before graduation
or no longer than three months after graduation
Where presented: Faculty residential meeting, usually held
in February each year
Regulations:
I. The prize will be advertised in the Student BMJ in the
spring preceding the year of award.
II. The
Faculty has agreed that each year the winner(s) of the essay prize
will be included as guest(s) at the Faculty annual conference. The
prize itself will be presented during the Faculty's business
meeting held during this conference.
Closing date: 30th November each year
Information from:
Chair
Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry
The Royal College of Psychiatrists
c/o Greg Smith
0207 235 2351 Ext 285
email: gsmith@rcpsych.ac.uk
Back to top
9. Spirituality
and Psychiatry prize
The
Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group has established
a prize to be awarded to the best entry, or shared between joint
best entries, for submissions comprising an original study,
research report, review, or essay, on spirituality and psychiatry
by a single author. The prize has been established to harness and
promote interest in spirituality and psychiatry, and to motivate
psychiatrists to build up evidence in this area as it relates to
patients and practice.
Prize: £250
Frequency: Annually
Eligible: All Members and
Affiliates of the College and all medical students
Regulations:
I. Entries will
be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- The extent to which the essay furthers an understanding of
spirituality in relation to psychiatry
- Awareness of the literature on spirituality and psychiatry
- Relevance to psychiatric practice and patient care
- Originality
- Critical reflective quality
Submissions that focus particularly
on one area should nevertheless have at least some merit under all
headings.
II. Entries will be no
longer than 5000 words and should be submitted electronically where
possible, in Word (double spaced).
III. Short listing will be the responsibility of the
Executive Committee or a panel appointed by them from within the
Executive, which will include a senior academic. The Executive
Committee reserves the right not to award the prize in any given
year if the quality or relevance of the entries is deemed not to be
of sufficient merit.
IV. The winning entry/entries, and all authors of shortlisted
submissions, will be notified by 31 March. Shortlisted papers will
be eligible for publication on the Spirituality Special Interest
Group website.
Closing date: 31
December each year
Submissions to: Honorary Secretary of the Spirituality and
Psychiatry Special Interest Group c/o Sue Duncan 0207 235 2351
Ext 130
email: sduncan@rcpsych.ac.uk
Back to top
10. The Professor
Joan Bicknell Medical Student essay prize
This prize was
established by the Faculty of the Psychiatry of Learning Disability
to be awarded for an essay written by a medical student about their
contact with a person (or people) with learning disability during
the course of their studies. The essay should focus on the ways in
which the student’s training has been influenced as a result. The
award aims to raise the awareness of issues of disability in
medical training and to encourage students to pursue further study
and professional training in this area.
Prize: £250
Frequency: Annually
Eligible: All clinical medical students
in the UK and the Republic of Ireland
Where presented: Faculty spring meeting,
usually held in April each year
Regulations:
I. The
format of the prize will be an essay of no more than 3000 words, to
be submitted by email. The topic will be an account of a
study module or project undertaken that brought the student into
direct interaction and collaboration with a person (or people) with
learning disability, and should focus on the ways in which the
student’s training has been influenced as a result.
II. The prize will be
circulated to medical school deans yearly.
III. The
essays will be judged by a nominated panel of three Faculty
Executive members. The Faculty reserves the right to award
more than one prize in exceptional circumstances. Should a
minimum agreed standard not be achieved, the prize might not be
awarded.
IV. The Faculty will provide
a subsidised place for the prizewinner at its annual spring
meeting, at which the prize will be presented.
Closing date: 1 December each year
Submissions to: Academic Secretary,
Faculty of the Psychiatry of Learning Disability c/o K Kottasz
0207 235 2351 Ext 299
e-mail: kkottasz@rcpsych.ac.uk
Back to top
11. Medical Student essay prize in old age
psychiatry
The Faculty of the
Psychiatry of Old Age has established this prize in order to raise
the profile of old age psychiatry and to encourage medical students
to pursue further study and professional training in this area.
Prize: £250
Frequency: Annually
Eligible: All medical
students in the UK and Ireland
Where Presented:
Faculty residential meeting (usually in March)
Regulations:
I. Eligible
students are invited to submit an original essay of up to 5000
words on any aspect of old age psychiatry. The essay should be
illustrated by a clinical example from medical or psychiatric
practice relevant to old age psychiatry (e.g. general practice,
medicine for the elderly, orthopaedic surgery etc) and should
discuss how the student’s training and awareness has been
influenced as a result. The essay should demonstrate an
understanding of the mental health issues pertinent to the clinical
problem and should include a discussion of the effects and
consequences of the condition for the individual, their family and
the wider healthcare system.
II. The essay
should be supported by a review of relevant literature and should
be the candidate’s own work.
III.
Submissions should be submitted by email. The essays will be
judged by a panel of three Faculty Executive members. Criteria
for judging merit will include: clarity of expression,
understanding of the literature and evidence and cogency of
argument. The Faculty reserves the right not to award the prize if
no entry reaching the agreed minimum standard is received.
IV. The prize will be advertised
annually to the deans of medical schools.
V. The
Faculty will provide a subsidised place for the prizewinner at the
Faculty residential meeting and a mentor to help the student gain
maximum benefit from attending the conference. The prizewinner
will be required to provide an edited version of their essay for
possible publication in the Old Age Psychiatrist.
Closing date:
31 December
Submissions
to: Honorary Secretary, Faculty of the
Psychiatry of Old Age c/o K Kottasz 0207 235 2351 Ext
299
e-mail: kkottasz@rcpsych.ac.uk
Back to
top
12. Fancy writing an article for the next Student
Associate Newsletter?
The Student Associate Newsletter is
sent to hundreds of medical students and foundation trainees across
the country and is published on the website of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists. Please see the guidance
notes for articles.
Please email Vivek Datta with your submissions
at: vivek.datta@doctors.org.uk
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Page last updated on 23
September 2009 by E Baker-Glenn