The evaluation of teaching in undergraduate psychiatric education: students' attitudes to psychiatry and the evaluation of clinical competency.

There is an increasing demand for improved skills by medical graduates in the psychosocial aspects of medical care. Psychiatrists as educators need to play an important role in the development and evaluation of education in many areas of the undergraduate curriculum in addition to the continuing education of graduates. In this review approaches to the evaluation of undergraduate psychiatric education are discussed with particular emphasis on students' attitudes to psychiatry. Key issues that remain to be addressed include the clarification of the most appropriate goals for undergraduate education in psychiatry, the most valid means of evaluating such educational programmes, particularly clinical competency and, finally, the many tasks in improving the status of the psychosocial aspects of medical care for students and their clinical teachers.