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Rotations
Overview
The Department of Psychiatry's extensive programs are a respected and integral part of this leading academic health system. With outstanding faculty and residents in all fields of medicine and psychiatry, you will find yourself immersed in the best of modern medicine and health care, with ample opportunities for collaboration with physicians, scholars, and scientists in many other fields.
First Year
The first year of training combines rotations in internal medicine, neurology, and inpatient psychiatry.
Interns will rotate through different clinical sites including:
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP)
- Presbyterian Medical Center (PMC)
- Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC)
- Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH)
- Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania (optional rotation)
Residents are offered a range of medicine settings, including geriatric medicine and emergency medicine, with opportunities to serve the different populations at these four facilities.
Second Year
The PGY2 year builds on this strong foundation with additional general inpatient psychiatry, as well as specialized inpatient experiences on the neuropsychiatry and mood disorders services at HUP.
Dedicated emergency psychiatry training is provided at the Psychiatric Emergency Evaluation Center (PEEC) at HUP and the Crisis Response Center (CRC) at PAH.
The child and adolescent rotation is based at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Hall-Mercer Community Mental Health Center.
Consultation/Liaison (medical) psychiatry is taught at both HUP and the VAMC.
Dedicated substance abuse training is provided at the VAMC with supervision by faculty from the Treatment Research Center, a National Center of Excellence in Addiction.
Residents are assigned one outpatient psychotherapy case in the spring of this year.
Weekday overnight call is eliminated as of PGY2, and a night float rotation was created to improve residents’ quality of life.
Third Year
The emphasis of the third year is on ambulatory psychiatry. Residents rotate through the General Ambulatory Practice and Residents' Psychotherapy Practice, as well as outpatient substance abuse treatment centers, community psychiatry settings, and supervised assessment clinics.
Residents assume primary responsibility for their patients and provide longitudinal care in a warm and inviting group practice. Along with individual supervision and didactic work, one half-day per week is available for elective time.
Residents treat patients with a wide range of diagnoses, socioeconomic backgrounds, and third-party payors, including members of the very large university community.
Supervised treatment modalities include short- and long-term psychotherapies; psychopharmacology consultation and follow-up; and group, couples, and family therapy.
Fourth Year
In the fourth year, each resident - under the guidance of the Training Director, Associate Director, and relevant faculty- is encouraged to develop a unique educational experience that includes continued clinical work in the General Ambulatory Practice and Residents' Psychotherapy Practice, as well as intensive senior electives in areas relevant to his or her career direction. The resources of the entire department, and indeed the university, are available in the areas of clinical care, research and administration.
Residents have two days per week available for elective experiences. A Senior Teaching Requirement, focusing on the development of educational skills, and an Academic Project, round out the year.
The Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) and Trans-Cranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) rotation provide training in these modalities, and satisfy accreditation criteria for the provision of ECT after residency.