I completed the rotation at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut and it was a great experience. The hospital is like a hotel and the people are just friendly all around. It was a breath of fresh air after my surgery rotation that wasn't exactly filled with the kindest of people. It just goes to show that the environment in which you surround yourself with really matters! Another great aspect of this program is they allow you to experience many different forms of psychiatry; child psychiatry, inpatient, outpatient, crisis intervention in the ER, consult psychiatry and visiting a drug rehab program.
Danbury Hospital
My first week I spent doing consult psychiatry. These was a good experience and eased me into interviewing patients. These patients were admitted for a medical problem but since being in the hospital have developed a psychiatric condition or always had an underlying psychiatric condition. The doctor you work with is a pleasure to work with. He makes the week fun but also a learning experience.
My second week I spent doing crisis intervention. Danbury hospital has a great behavioral health portion of the ER. It was hit or miss with the business of the day depending on how many people came it. I worked hand in hand with social workers and nurse practitioners and developed my interviewing skills.
My third and fourth weeks I spent inpatient. I really enjoyed being inpatient. This is where you got the exposure to acute conditions. I worked with a fabulous, very knowledgable psychiatrist and really learned what good interviewing technique looked like.
My fifth and sixth weeks, I spent outpatient. Mainly working with patients that were in an Intensive Outpatient Program, attending therapy everyday. I got to sit in on many therapy sessions and truly understand all the different types.
Every monday afternoon all the psychiatry students would met, one would interview a patient while others observed and then we would discuss the case with a physician. The was probably the highlight of the rotation. The physician created a comfortable environment where we could state our opinions even if it meant disagreeing with what he thought was the diagnosis and encouraged us to defend our answers (which usually resulted in him being right but we learned but was wrong with our thinking ;))
We also have to complete three full H&Ps which was an great learning experience. They were critiqued and given back to us. I had written lots of medical H&Ps but the psychiatric H&P includes many different aspects including the mental status exam which we had never learned before. We always learned how to do a mini mental status exam but a full mental status exam involves much more.
We also had many lectures given by physicians.
I highly recommend this rotation even if you don't want to go into psychiatry because this is the last time you'll get trained if you don't go into psychiatry and take advantage of a great program!
CT sunset with students on the lake
Preparing for the Shelf:
I felt super prepared for this shelf, I studied a lot and the material just seemed to make sense to me. I had a hard time determining what the best resources for the shelf would be at first. A lot of the books I had only had DSM IV and I wanted to make sure I was studying DSM V. I used First Aid for Psychiatry and it is GREAT! I also watched DIT videos for a general overview as well as completed all uWorld questions. I had extra time in the end so I chose to look over Pretest questions but it was a DSM IV book so I had to pick and choose which questions to do.
I officially finished my last core and last shelf. The only thing standing between me and graduation is 4 more months of electives and Step 2 CK!
Took my shelf in Philadelphia right next to Independence Hall
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