Not long ago I was a fourth-year medical student just like you, proofreading my personal statement and declaring my unyielding love for psychiatry. I remember staying up late at night reviewing my ERAS application and making sure I didn’t accidentally apply to become a physiatrist. I know working on your residency application can be tough, but having to work on it means you made it! Congratulations! You’re like that mouse that fell into a bucket of cream; peddled so hard he churned that cream into butter and walked out. You’re on your way to meeting some great people on the interview trail, experiencing Match Day and starting your residency. As a newly minted doctor embarking on a four-year journey, I couldn’t imagine a better experience than being a PGY-1 in the Psychiatry Residency Program at Indiana University School of Medicine.
The first thing I noticed from the time of my interview was the positive and uplifting culture that exists within the Department of Psychiatry, which stems from great leadership and supportive staff who are committed to excellence. The residents and staff were so welcoming, it felt like I was right where I was supposed to be. In this department, resident feedback is taken seriously and it’s not uncommon to see changes based on our suggestions be brought to fruition.
During the first year, we rotate through various psychiatry services, as well as two months of neurology, one month of emergency medicine and three months of internal medicine. During the psychiatry months, we rotate through different hospital systems located on our main campus. We can see patients at the Roudebush VA Medical Center, Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, Eskenazi Health and Methodist Hospital at IU Health. I just finished a month of Psychiatry at Methodist Hospital and one month of adult inpatient medicine at the VA. Now, I’m rotating at Eskenazi’s Mental Health Recovery Center, which serves as Marion County’s safety-net hospital serving the community’s underserved and often most gravely disabled patients. Eskenazi offers residents an amazing chance to gain experience in caring for individuals with different psychotic disorders.
I start my day at 8 am when I arrive at the unit to pre-round and pick up new patients. At this time, I’ll greet and visit patients, as well as assess any clinical changes they may be experiencing. After that, I prepare plans for each patient and meet with the third-year medical students rotating through the unit to go over care plans for the patients they are following. At about 10:30am, our team of physicians, medical students, a social worker, a nurse and an occupational therapist review the patient census, offer updates from the previous 24 hours, and discuss treatment and discharge plans. The rest of the day typically consists of placing orders, completing interviews with newly admitted patients, obtaining collateral information, checking back in with patients and writing notes. Even though there is a general structure of events, no day is like the other and there is never a dull moment!
Eskenazi Health also has a psychiatric Emergency Psychiatry center called the Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU) where all PGY-1 residents take call approximately every one to two weeks between 4:30pm and 10pm (not bad when you consider that we have weekends off during all psychiatry rotations). The CIU offers walk-in appointments but you will often be consulting for the emergency department (ED) and will assess patients in either the ED or secure holding if they are under police custody. It is a great way to practice assessing patients in an acute setting and to learn how to determine if a patient needs to be admitted or if outpatient follow up is more appropriate. The CIU social workers are also incredible at their jobs and hilarious people in general, so it’s really an all-around great place to work!
The Psychiatry Residency program really values resident education, which is why we have four hours of protected time every Friday between 11am and 3pm, regardless of whether we are on a psychiatry rotation or off-service. Resident wellness is also important, so Fridays also include lunch and a bit of socializing. It’s a great time to catch up with co-residents, learn some stuff about psychiatry and diversify your week.
Learn more about a residency in Psychiatry at IU School of Medicine.
