A central aspect of the Residency Training Program is the core curriculum. Courses are held weekly for PGY-1s as they rotate through their psychiatry rotations. Residents have class daily during the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years, and two days a week in the PGY-4 year. These courses are integrated with the residents' clinical activities and are sequenced to correspond to the growth of clinical skills. Didactic courses provide the scientific and conceptual basis for practice, as well as a time to consider complex treatment issues away from the pressure of immediate clinical decision making.
In addition to these courses, there are many didactic sessions that are held on a specific teaching service, attended only by residents while they are on that service. For example there is a course on the cognitive therapy of eating disorders offered to residents while they rotate on the inpatient unit where bulimic and anorexic patients are hospitalized. Similarly, PGY-1 residents attend unit-based courses while doing psychiatry rotations. Finally, there are some special seminars held for all residents throughout the year.
All Residents
Adult Psychiatry Grand Rounds & Lunch Discussion - Rotates among faculty, invited speakers and residents – Weekly for 11 months of the year, excluding holidays
Patient Safety Conference- Chief residents, Drs. Lou Baptista, Dianna Dragatsi, David Kahn, David Lowenthal and chief residents - 6 sessions - This course affords residents the opportunity to explore difficult topics in psychiatry with a case based approach. Chief residents facilitate selection of a challenging case and invite a panel of faculty with expertise in areas highlighted by the case. The primary resident who cared for the patient writes up and presents the case, and a facilitated discussion follows.
Workshop on Effective Handoffs - Dr. Dianna Dragatai, Dr. Melissa Arbuckle, Chief Residents - 1 session - Improving patient handoffs has been identified as a priority by the Joint Commission, WHO, Institute of Medicine and ACGME. This course reviews the Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendations (SBAR) format of handoffs and residents practice giving and receiving signoutin small groups using this format.
Recognizing & Managing Fatigue - Dr. Melissa Arbuckle, Chief Residents - 1 session - The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires programs to educate residents about recognizing and managing fatigue. This workshop reviews strategies for mitigating fatigue and utilizing available resources to reduce fatigue.
Senior Seminar - Drs. Melissa Arbuckle and Deborah Cabaniss - 4 sessions - All residents are required to complete an independent project prior to graduation. In this course, senior residents give semi-formal presentations describing academic projects they have worked on throughout residency training.
Professionalism Workshop - Chief Residents - 1 session - A topic related to professionalism is selected by chief residents, and all residents attend a workshop designed to raise awareness about matters of professionalism as they apply to psychiatry. A small group case-based discussion format is used to facilitate discussion about professionalism. Recent topics have included using social media as a resident, and improving resident mental health.
PRITE Review - Dr. Carisa Kymissis - 4 sessions - This course reviews key topics in neurology and psychiatry in preparation for the national PRITE. Residents in the PGY-2, -3, and -4 levels attend four one-hour classes split between neurology (led by the CUMC Neurology Chief Resident) and psychiatry content. This course includes both didactic instruction and related sample PRITE questions presented in an interactive format. The review continues with daily emails highlighting PRITE topics in the week just prior to the exam.