The continuing shortfall in recruitment to Psychiatry is examined with suggestions for affirmative action. Recruitment may improve in the near future because of the high demand for psychiatrists, the incentives offered, greater competition for other specialties and a pool of international graduates willing to work in Psychiatry. There remains the…

The stigmatisation of mental illness in Australian and other Western societies is now well documented. This article presents a description of the "stigmatisation" problem associated with mental illness, and discusses the impact that this problem has had on the demand for Psychiatry as a career. The approach taken at UWA to address the "recruitment…

Stigmatisation among mental health professionals can have a significant impact on individuals who work in the area, and on recruitment of people into the mental health workforce. This study aimed to investigate the source, type and impact of positive and negative comments, attitudes and behaviours experienced by psychiatrists and psychiatric…

Multiculturalism is a familiar concept in many developed countries. While cultural competency training is part of most medical curricula, training in cultural psychiatry at the undergraduate level is typically minimal. It is important that medical graduates are both culturally competent and able to respond to the mental health needs of patients…

This paper describes a tutorial programme developed at the University of Western Australia (UWA) to enhance medical students' learning processes within problem-based learning contexts. The programme encourages students to use more effective learning approaches by scaffolding the development of effective problem-solving strategies, and by reducing…