The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University has joined the ranks of only a handful of medical schools in the country to receive the prestigious Ticho Prize from the Ernst and Gertrude Ticho Charitable Foundation to stimulate student interest in psychiatric medicine and to enhance education in psychiatry. Scholarships from the $50,000 Ticho Prize endowment fund will be awarded annually to a promising student who is graduating from FAU’s medical school to encourage him or her to pursue a career in psychiatry, and in particular, to pay attention to the emotional state and feelings of the patient.  

 

The patient interview is the most commonly used procedure employed by clinicians to garner valuable information about their patient’s physical and mental well-being. Historically, communication training for clinicians and other healthcare providers has received much less attention throughout the training process than other clinical tasks. FAU’s innovative medical education curriculum provides a student-centered and patient-focused approach with early clinical experiences with local physicians, area hospitals and health departments. Third-year students complete core clerkships in various specialties including psychiatry, allowing them to learn within a health care system, master clinical skills and knowledge and get to know their patients.