What do medical students of the sixth clinical semester know about psychiatric emergencies?

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge of medical stude nts in psychiatric emergencies. Methods: Medical students were questioned c oncerning their knowledge about psychiatric emergencies, shortly before fin ishing their theoretical part of the medical training program. Results: Fin dings indicated that medical students have significant deficits in psychiat ric knowledge. Nevertheless, most students reported to be interested in psy chiatry and to acknowledge the importance of psychiactric knowledge for gen eral practioneers. Conclusions: The reasons for the reported deficits canno t be sufficiently explained by a lack of interest in psychiatry or a negati on of the importance of knowlegde in psychiatry for general practioneers an d may hint to conceptual problems in the organisation of the medical traini ng programs.