Scott & White Psychiatry and Behavioral Science Residency Program

Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine addresses the illnesses that affect our most human qualitiesdisorders of thinking, feeling and behaving. Achieving fulfillment in life is difficult for patients with psychiatric disorders since these disorders disrupt internal functioning and interpersonal relationships. The task of clinicians and researchers is to assist patients and their families overcome these illnesses.

Education of residents, both through clinical and didactic training, is a priority in our program. Throughout their training, residents are required to attend a weekly four-hour seminar with the other members of their residency class. Staff physicians conduct lectures during this time, and residents follow a curriculum of reading assignments. Seminars are "protected time" for the residents, during which clinical duties are suspended and covered by staff.

In addition the residents, with the help of staff, conduct a review course for the annual Psychiatry Resident In Training Exam (PRITE). Residents meet with a staff member weekly in the three months prior to the exam. Exams from previous years are reviewed and discussed.

The program has multiple training sites, including Scott & White Hospital and Clinic, the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center (a part of Ft. Hood), and the Texas MHMR system.

Curriculum
For each training year, there are two tables. One shows the clinical rotations with the duration during the year; the other table shows the seminars taken during the year. Each row of the seminar tables represents a one-hour block of time for the year (or, in PGY-1, for the six months spent on Psychiatry). Only formal courses are shown in these diagrams; case conferences and other teaching conferences are scheduled separately and are not shown. Supervision is two to three hours per week for PGY-1 through PGY-2. During PGY-3, supervision increases to three to five hours per week. The PGY-4 year usually contains three to four hours per week of supervision.

To see more detail: Curriculum

Conferences
Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds:Clinical issues, research topics/projects, mental health policy issues and psychopharmacology are some of the topics presented.

Ethics Meeting:During the meeting the ethical and moral issues and questions that underpin the movie and their applications to the practice of psychiatry are discussed.

Journal Club:Residents present a summary of one to three articles from recent psychiatric literature.

Outpatient Psychopharmacology Case Conference:Cases that are "typical" and exemplify proper patient management are discussed. Cases that are unusual or complicated are presented.

Outpatient Case Conference:Special emphasis is placed on therapy methods and techniques, psychodynamic themes and intrapsychic conflicts, and ego defense mechanisms.

Consultation/Liaison Case Conference:End-of-life issues, organic brain syndromes, pain management, and somatoform disorders are a few topics covered.

Practice Improvement Meeting:A difficult case or a difficult outcome is discussed from a risk management perspective.

*Scott & White program offers a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , which was recently reviewed and given full accreditation until next review in 2009. Residents who are interested can transfer into this two-year program after their third year of training in the Adult Psychiatry residency. This, in effect, shortens a six-year program into a five-year experience.

About Scott & White
Scott & White is the largest multi-speciality practice in Texas, with more than 500 physicians who care for patients at Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple and at our 15 regional clinics throughout Central Texas. In addition, they deliver care to members of the Scott & White Health Plan, one of the highest rated plans in the nation. For the fourth straight year, Scott & White has been named to the list of the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals in the country.

This article is reposted with thanks to Scott & White.