Effect of outpatient and clinical training on the academic performance of medical interns in the Psychiatric department of Lorestan university of medical sciences

Medical education in the world is changing toward outpatient training. Psychiatry because of holistic care for patients and the importance of psychological problems in a large percentage of diseases, have a key role in training of general physicians. This study determines the impact of outpatient and clinical education on the academic performance of interns in the psychiatric department in Lorestan University of Medical Sciences. In this quazi experimental study participants were 78 interns of two consecutive years, in psychiatric ward of Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, which were assigned randomly into two control and intervention groups. The control group was trained as usual method but the intervention group in addition to the usual training took six sessions of outpatient and clinical training in the afternoon at the psychiatric clinic of Khorramabad. At the end of course a similar exam was given to all the participants by two psychiatrists. Data were compared using statistical tests. Data had normal distribution, the mean score was 13.369±2.052 for control group, and 17.1396±1.469 in case group which was significantly different with 95% confidence interval and was better in case group (p<0. 001). According to the results of this study, we can conclude that, Outpatient and clinical training of interns in the field of psychiatry has a significant effect on academic performance in psychiatric ward and increases general physicians’ ability in this area. Therefore we recommend that a larger share of psychiatry training allocated to outpatient and clinical education.