| Summary: | Abstract Introduction Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, are listed among the ADMSEP Clinical Learning Objectives for Psychiatry Education of Medical Students (2007) and lead to significant morbidity, mortality, and healthcare burden for the patient, caretakers, and society. We used Articulate® software to develop a self-directed learning module which includes video clips of interviews with an actor representing a patient with first-episode of schizophrenia. Methods This 30− to 45-minute module presents video-clips of a college student enduring his first psychotic break and then being brought to the emergency room by police. Subsequently, it follows the patient through the remission of the episode. The patient is first interviewed in the emergency room by a medical student, who acquires basic information, including collateral information from the patient's roommate. Two other video clips present the initial interview with a psychiatrist in the inpatient unit and a follow-up visit with the same psychiatrist in the outpatient clinic. DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorders, elements of differential diagnosis, etiology, illness stages, as well as pharmacological and psycho-social treatment principles are illustrated in the module. Quizzes are embedded in the module to stimulate further learning. Results This module has not been yet implemented in the curriculum as a final learning tool but the video clips have been used by members of the CSI taskforce in small group and other learning settings with favorable feedback from learners. The resource was presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting in May 2014 and at the ADMSEP annual meeting in June 2014. Discussion The module gives students an opportunity to appreciate the remission of patient's symptoms, the progress of their insight into the illness, and the implications of treatment in the patient's day-to-day life. While most medical students will be able to encounter a psychotic patient in their psychiatry clerkship, due to short duration of the clerkship, as well as patient and site variability, some students may not be able to see the same patient progress through the acute, stabilization, and maintenance stages of treatment. This module is not intended to replace the exposure to real patients with psychosis but it can be used to augment clinical encounters and help acquire basic knowledge of the illness.
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