Reflective Statement

(10% of total Psychiatry Grade)

Rationale
One of the goals of the clerkship is to maintain respect and gain understanding for patients and
families as they experience neuropsychiatric illnesses. We believe it is crucially important for
students to appreciate the deeper meanings of illness, to maintain a positive attitude towards even
the sickest of patients, and to prevent cynicism from robbing us of hope. These attitudes can be
developed through interaction with other professionals, reading about psychiatric
patients/conditions, and in group discussions with other students. However, a written essay or
statement has been shown to also help in this process, by encouraging students to reflect on these
issues and others that you’ve encountered during the course of the clinical rotation.

The reflective statement also helps us to assess the attitude learning objective. Your other
learning objectives—knowledge, skills, professionalism—can be assessed through other means
(e.g., SHELF exam, global ratings, etc.). Attitudes are harder to get at, but this does allow us to
see what you’ll be taking away from the clerkship as you go forward in your careers.

Format
Each student will pick one or more of the patients from your caselog and write about what made
them stand out: an ethical issue in their care, cross-cultural aspects, a diagnostic dilemma, and
challenges/successes in the doctor-patient relationship, a treatment barrier, and a family you
connected with, etc. The statement should be at least 500 words and should be turned in at the
exam. Font and style is up to you. Please do not use any clearly identifying information about
patients (e.g., initials or pseudonyms preferred).

The essay is NOT designed to be a formal clinical presentation of a case. You do not have to
cite symptoms supporting a DSM diagnosis of something or other. Instead, we want to see if
you are able to EMPATHIZE with patients and families and larger communities, as well as
reflecting on how your experiences on the clerkship may have changed you.

Evaluation
The essays will be evaluated on a 10-point scale, with the following criteria in mind:
 Presentation of broader issues (beyond symptoms/diagnoses) in care
 Ability to reflect about the meaning of these issues/experiences, meaning to the patient,
family, and society
 Ability to describe how these issues/experiences affected you, in the past, present, and
even for the future
 Ability to empathize with the patient
 Writing quality (to a much lesser extent)

Please note: The reflective statement is due the Friday week of 4 at 1:00 pm. Essays handed
in after the last day will be considered late and the grade will be penalized by 10%. Late essays
may also lead to an unsatisfactory grade for the clerkship. You can earn one point of extra credit
applied to the essay by attending a Balint Group during your clerkship block.