All PGY-3 residents participate in the following training experiences:
- Outpatient Psychiatry
Throughout the PGY-3 year the residents spend one half of their clinical time working with selected adult outpatients in a variety of treatment modalities. Residents receive a minimum of two hours per week of supervision for this care. Supervisors are specifically selected to provide each resident with a balanced exposure to the full range of psychotherapeutic treatment modalities. In addition to their outpatient caseload, residents participate with faculty in six-month outpatient Specialty Clinic rotations. Residents select one half-day programs from areas such as eating disorders, geriatric psychiatry, and psychopharmacology. These programs provide an opportunity for residents to become familiar with state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques and clinical interventions from faculty members who are experts in those subspecialty areas.
- Child/ Adolescent Psychiatry
Georgetown PGY-3 residents are provided with didactic instruction and supervised clinical experience in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry while assigned to the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA)-Southern Maryland. They spend 2 days a week for 6 months at the facility in Cheltenham, MD, a brief drive from the central Georgetown campus. The State of Maryland Mental Hygiene Administration operates RICA’s comprehensive residential and day treatment program. It serves approximately 100 youth, has 5 staff Child Psychiatrists, a Pediatrician and a large team of nurses, therapists and special educators.
At RICA a Georgetown faculty Child Psychiatrist supervises psychiatry residents on-site. They participate in multidisciplinary comprehensive diagnostic
evaluations of middle school youth and high school age adolescents who present a diverse population diagnostically and socio-culturally.
Residents observe and conduct supervised pre-admission screenings, admission evaluations, treatment team meetings, therapy and medication management for assigned patients. They have a long-term therapy case and provide supportive short-term therapy for youth placed in RICA by Juvenile Courts for 45-day evaluations. Individual supervision, a literature seminar, and case conferences or lectures by visiting expert clinicians from the metropolitan D.C. area occurs weekly.
In addition, all PGY-3 residents participate in the Outpatient Child clinic for 6 months. During their time in this clinic the residents are able to gain experience seeing children and adolescents in an outpatient setting, providing a compliment to the inpatient work they do with children at RICA.
- Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry
Residents work the equivalent of 3 days per week for six months in the department’s consultation/liaison psychiatry service (C/L). Emphasis is placed on learning to consult with non-psychiatric physicians and hospital staff, and on exploring the psychosocial dimensions of medical illnesses. Residents attend daily C/L rounds with faculty psychiatrists and a weekly C/L conference with didactic and clinical supervision components. They also liaison with hospital staff, family members, and outside health care providers to aid in the assessment and treatment, then communicate these findings to the treatment team in order to assist in caring for the patient.
- Geriatric/Substance Abuse
PGY-3 residents spend 2 months on a Geriatric/Substance Abuse rotation. The substance abuse aspect takes place at the Kolmac Clinic under the supervision of Dr. George Kolodner. The geriatric piece takes place at the Washington, DC VA Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Deborah Dallum.
- Emergency Psychiatry
PGY-1, 2 and 3 residents provide 24-hour a-day coverage of the Georgetown University Hospital Emergency Room for patients in need of psychiatric evaluation. Supervision for these evaluations is provided by on-call faculty and senior residents. This experience provides a solid foundation in the evaluation and treatment of psychiatric emergencies.
- Didactics
Seminars in this year build on the PGY-2 courses and offer further opportunities to learn theory and practice in all areas of psychiatry.
