Clinical Teaching
The Psychiatry Clerkship is required for all students during the clinical years. Six six-week rotations a year are offered at three sites: Lincoln Hospital, Payne Whitney Westchester, and Payne Whitney Manhattan. At all sites a core program of didactic sessions includes a weekly Interview Class (during which students interview patients with the instructor) and a weekly Small Group Attending Preceptorship (during which students present their cases). Lectures cover such issues as: The Suicidal Patient, Personality Disorders, Differential Diagnosis, Substance Abuse, Treatment of Affective Disorders, Child Psychiatry, Schizophrenia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Neuropsychiatry, Consultation Liaison, and Organic Brain Disorders.
The Psychiatry Component of the Primary Care Clerkship: Throughout the year, pairs of students rotate through the OPD two afternoons a week for four weeks in order to develop skills for assessing and managing patients with psychiatric disorders in the primary care setting. Under the supervision of an attending physician, students and residents participate in evaluations of new patients. Two half-days a week of lectures include such topics as: Interviewing the Patient, Anxiety Disorders, Substance Abuse, Affective Illness, Delirium and Dementia, Identifying Patients' Concerns, The Somatizing Patient, and The Difficult Patient.
Clinical Electives: Students who have completed the required clerkship are encouraged to further their education in psychiatry by taking advanced clerkships or subinternships on the adult inpatient and outpatient services in Westchester and Manhattan, and the Consultation Service in Manhattan, or in the Department's Child and Adolescent, Geriatics, and Substance Abuse divisions in Manhattan or Westchester.
Research Electives: Students wishing to participate in psychiatric research are encouraged to contact any of the department's clinical or basic science investigators to plan projects that can last from 4 weeks to several months or longer.
Advanced Basic Sciences: A required course at the end of the 4th year presents recent advances in the basic sciences as they apply to clinical care. Psychiatry has a prominent role in this course, demonstrating cutting-edge applications for neuroimaging and other groundbreaking tools.
Advising: A committed group of faculty serve as advisors to students who are planning psychiatry residencies. The chair of the department is delighted to meet with students to discuss career options.
