Medical students posted to the department are taught how to clerk and carry out physical and mental state examinations, psychometric and psychological testing and laboratory investigations of mentally ill patients admitted to the psychiatric ward. Medical students take part in clinical management of patients both at the out patients’ clinic and on the ward. They also take part in crisis intervention of severely disturbed psychiatric patients and in Consultation-Liaison of patients referred from other clinical departments of the hospital. There are collaborations with the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Prisons, and institutions for mentally-handicapped children, geriatric institutions, and Primary Health Care Centers to observe the extent of psychiatric problems in the society and how they are managed. Medical students are taught forensic psychiatry in order to expose them to the Lunacy Law and the proposed Mental Health Policy.
At the end of the 500 Level students’ clerkship in psychiatry, they should be able to: