Message From the Director of Third Year Clerkship

Wendy Thompson, MD Clinical Professor

Third year students will have the opportunity during this six-week rotation to learn about clinical psychiatry through active participation on psychiatric units at their assigned hospitals.

You will be assigned patients whom you will follow very closely. Patient rounds will be made on a regular basis and you will work with attending psychiatrists and other professionals involved in the care of patients. Students will see first hand the decision processes that go on in the treatment of patients with major psychiatric disorders. In addition you will be on call in busy psychiatric emergency rooms and /or with crisis teams that go into the community. There will be special seminars on interviewing techniques and a series of lectures and seminars on a wide variety of psychiatric subjects including psychopathology, psychopharmacology and other treatment modalities. The program at each hospital will vary somewhat but the range of clinical areas that the students will be exposed in include, child and adolescent psychiatry, consultation/liaison psychiatry as well as alcohol and other substance abuse. In the fifth week you will take an oral examination and during the last week you take the miniboard final examination.

This is going to be a fast moving and exciting clerkship. You will learn a great deal about psychiatry and you will have the opportunity to develop confidence in your clinical skills in this important area of medicine.

The site director at each hospital will be available to answer any questions and you should feel free to speak with him at any time. I will also be glad to speak with you or meet with you should you wish to discuss the clerkship, electives, and any aspect of the field of psychiatry or the possibility of pursing a career in this specialty... Good Luck.