WUMS 3rd year Ambulatory Clerkship: options in psychiatry
The goals of the ambulatory clerkship rotation in psychiatry are to teach "psychiatry for non-psychiatrists" and to allow additional exposure in psychiatry to interested students for whom the 4-week required clerkship is too brief.
Students who choose to do their ambulatory clerkship through the Department of Psychiatry will be assigned to one of the following sites (maximum number of students at each site in parentheses). Students should submit a request ranking their top 2 sites and the Coursemaster will make a serious effort to accommodate 1st choices. This request should be received before the beginning of the prior 4-week rotation.
- adult psychiatry clinic (2): Students will work with advanced residents caring for new and follow-up clinic patients and BJH emergency room patients. They will also visit community sites of interest and submit very brief notes on these visits, and participate in ongoing psychotherapy groups. Local rotation supervisor: Keith Garcia, M.D.
- psychiatry consultation service (2): Students work on a consult team with residents and attending physicians addressing questions of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment in patients on non-psychiatric BJH wards.
- MPC ER (1): Students work with an attending physician in the Metropolitan Psychiatric Center emergency room. They will also participate in the MPC ECT service. Local rotation supervisor: Devna Rastogi, M.D.
- outpatient child psychiatry (1): Students work with residents, fellows and attending physicians, primarily in the Children's Hospital psychiatry clinic but also with some ER and/or consult experience. Local rotation supervisor: Anne Glowinski, M.D.
- BJC Behavioral Health (1): Students work on one of 8 multidisciplinary case management teams, each with eight case managers and a supervisor. One team works exclusively with homeless people with mental health diagnoses and needs. Patients tend to have severe psychiatric illness, usually with several prior hospitalizations.* Local rotation supervisor: Mark Johnson, M.D.
All students will read and report on a relevant clinical topic of their choice. This review paper should be focused. The student should clear the topic with Dr. Black by email by the end of the first week of the rotation. Papers will be graded by considering all facets of the review, including: the student's ability to critically evaluate whether conclusions in the literature are substantiated by research or are based on opinion (this is crucial); appropriateness of the references chosen; writing style, grammar and spelling. I strongly encourage all students to get help from WU psychiatry residents and faculty before writing the paper. I can probably point you to faculty who are interested in your topic.
In addition, all students will keep a log of all patient contacts. As of this writing, there is no night call at any site. Grade is roughly 50% clinical evaluation, 49% review paper. Direct questions to Dr. Black's office at 362-2469 or email my office (repkot@wustl.edu).