The first year consists of six months of general medical training and six months of psychiatry. All interns spend July on-service at the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital and the remainder of the year is divided into 4 week blocks that include both the psychiatry and off-service requirements.
The medical training occurs at Vanderbilt University Hospital, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and the Nashville VA - sites all located within walking distance of each other and the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital. General medical training consists of three months of internal medicine, or pediatrics. One month is spent in emergency medicine and two months in neurology (one month each in outpatient and inpatient).
While on-service, the focus is on an introduction to psychiatry and the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric illnesses. Clinical rotations include the various units of VPH - general adult, addictions, dual diagnosis, and child and adolescent. Generally, all inpatient rotations are team based, allowing for direct teaching and supervision between interns and upper-levels.
Call Schedule:
PGY1s take psychiatry call at VPH from 5-9pm on weekdays and 9 am - 9 pm on weekends. All interns are directly supervised by either a PGY3 or PGY4. On average, interns take 3 weekday calls and 1 weekend call a month. Interns are not expected to round on their patients over the weekends.
Didactics:
A carefully designed four-year didactic series begins during the PGY 1 year. The PGY 1 curriculum in psychiatry is roughly seven months long commensurate with the amount of time residents spend on psychiatry rotations in PGY1. The remaining months are represented by off service rotations. The seven months curriculum is spread over the academic year and residents are encouraged to attend all psychiatry didactics, even while on off-service rotations. Residents additionally attend conferences of the subspecialty program where they are rotating for the block (i.e neurology, internal medicine, etc.).
Didactics in the PGY1 are scheduled for 2-3 hours on Wednesday afternoons. Residents engage in regular clinical activities on Wednesdays when didactics do not take place. Seminars include a balance of biomedical and psychotherapy didactics. Seminar leaders reflect the rich research and clinical strengths of our diverse faculty. The seminar series is designed to integrate the basic science and theoretical foundations of psychiatry with clinical practice.