The PGY3 year is focused on refining the residents’ diagnostic and therapeutic skills and extending their experience and ability in longitudinal outpatient treatment settings. In addition, several core clinical rotations provide training in areas that are required for specialty board certification and are crucial to the practice of psychiatry.
The PGY3 year includes the following major components:
The majority of each resident’s time in PGY3 is devoted to their longitudinal outpatient clinic experience, which begins in PGY2 and continues through PGY3 and PGY4, as the outpatient experience grows and deepens. Required components of this rotation experience are as follows:
Residents have one day per week dedicated to curated outpatient selective experiences. These selectives allow residents to gain a deeper understanding, exposure, and experience in different subspecialties in psychiatry. Some of our selective experiences include rotations with the following groups:
The Psychiatry Consultation Service at MGH represents a capstone rotation for residents, allowing them to serve as ambassadors for psychiatry to the rest of the hospital. Residents draw on their medicine, psychiatry, psychotherapy and group therapy knowledge to serve a diverse population of patients, helping to manage up to 20% of all patients receiving care at MGH. The consultation-liaison service is a robust inpatient service where residents see patients throughout the hospital who have psychiatric issues complicating their medical or surgical care. Residents also have the opportunity to rotate on sub-specialty CL services, including the Psycho-oncology and Burns and Trauma Services. Residents spend 6 weeks on the Consultation service as PGY2s and then return for an additional 6 weeks as PGY3s. During this rotation, PGY3s see new consults 3 days per week, with one day protected for their outpatient clinic and another day protected for didactics
Residents spend 1 day per week working in two partial hospital programs at McLean that serve the military and law enforcement populations, and specialize in the treatment of substance use disorders. Residents co-lead treatment groups including specialized therapy approaches such as Group Drug Counseling, Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Mentalization-Based Treatment.
Residents spend 1 day per week working in the Nashua Street Jail in a rotation designed to give residents the opportunity to care for mentally ill patients in a correctional setting. They learn about the unique needs and challenges of this population, and become skilled at performing psychiatric assessments and implementing treatment plans for patients who are detained in the jail.
This rotation provides residents with further exposure to outpatient work in Community settings and includes both longitudinal and integrated care components. Residents evaluate and treat patients at one of two community mental health clinics and interface with members of an interdisciplinary team.
Required core didactic seminars and psychopharmacology conferences round out the curriculum.
Call: In addition to periodically scheduled senior call at MGH, there are also internal moonlighting options are available at both MGH and McLean.
Vacation: 4 weeks vacation and 1 week of conference time, scheduled at the discretion of the resident.
Conferences: Residents are given time to attend conferences at the discretion of the resident and their supervisors.
