Assessing the benefits of a geropsychiatric home-visit program for medical students

Objective: Authors assessed the benefit of including medical students on geropsychiatric home-visits. Method: Medical students, during their psychiatry clerkship, were assigned to a home-visit group (N=43) or control group (N=81). Home-visit participants attended the initial visit of a home-bound geriatric patient. The Maxwell-Sullivan Attitude Scale (MSAS), measuring attitudes about geriatric patients, was administered to all students before and after the clerkship. Homevisit participants received a questionnaire to rate the experience. Results: There were no significant differences between the groups with regard to change from baseline to follow-up on the MSAS. On the home-visit questionnaire, participants rated positively the overall experience (mean of 3.5 on a 4-point scale). Most homevisit participants commented positively about their experience. Conclusion: No significant effect of the home visit on medical student attitudes was demonstrated. However, the student questionnaire responses suggested that the students found the experience useful.