Curriculum

Curriculum

Our psychiatry residency provides training that allows our residents to fulfill the academic criteria set forth by the ACGME through providing clinical training at diverse training sites and extensive didactic courses and conferences. During that process, residents develop into competent and well-rounded specialists in all aspects of general psychiatry and clinical practice.

Psychotherapy is a strong component of our didactic and clinical training program as residents in their first year with weekly supervision begin providing supportive psychotherapy to patients. With the information garnered through didactic courses specifically focused on the theory and delivery of psychotherapy, residents advance to providing cognitive behavioral and psychodynamic psychotherapy with additional hours of supervision.

Our program has maintained our full didactic schedule during the COVID pandemic. Through the Bluejeans platform, residents can virtually attend and participate in all of their classes, conferences, grand rounds, etc. Residents continue to receive protected time to attend these components of their education.

Rotations

Rotations are scheduled to meet ACGME requirements and support the professional development of the psychiatric resident.

First year

Emphasis is placed on assessment, development of comprehensive differential diagnoses, biopsychosocial formulation, and development of a treatment plan. Participation in treatment teams allows the resident to develop collegial and leadership skills. Training sites, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (SNGH) and the Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC)

• Inpatient Psychiatry: 6 months
• Internal Medicine: 4 months
• Neurology: 2 months

Second year

Emphasis is placed on an immersive experience in assessment of psychiatric patients outside of the inpatient unit. The child psychiatry rotation provides experiences in inpatient, consult, and outpatient psychiatry. Residents learn the importance of family integration through exposure to Parent Child Interaction Training. Training sites, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (SNGH), Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), and Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD)

• Inpatient Psychiatry: 3 months
• Consult and Liaison: 3 months
• Emergency Psychiatry: 3 months
• Child Psychiatry: 2 months
• Addiction Medicine: 1 month
• Night Float: 1.5 months
• Day Float: 1 month  

Third year

Emphasis is placed on longitudinal care of outpatients provides the psychiatry resident the opportunity to learn how patients manage psychiatric illness in their world. Training sites, Virginia Beach Department of Health Services (VBDHS),  Norfolk Community Service Board (NCSB), Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC), and Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD)

• Outpatient Services: 12 months
• Night Float: 1 month

Fourth year

This experience serves as an element of the residents developing progressive responsibility for academic and patient care activities while teaching more junior residents and receiving supervision on team management. Training sites,  inpatient units at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (SNGH) and Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center(VAMC) where the resident essentially is responsible for the care of the patients on an inpatient service.

Diverse elective options are present as well, including rotations in

• Sleep Medicine,
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
• Pain Management Clinic
• Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) Team,
• electroconvulsive therapy,
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team
• Mental Health Intensive Case Management Program
• research
• Telepsychiatry
• Another option is to add an advanced rotation in child or consult psychiatry, or neurology.
• Junior Attending 
• Day Float 

Scholarly Activity and Research

Each resident is expected to be involved in some form of psychiatric scholarly activity which can include clinical research, quality improvement, curriculum development, or case presentations and publications. Residents are strongly encouraged to present at local, state, or national level conferences.

Lectures and other educational activities

Managed care experience, quality improvement, and patient safety programs are also part of our residents’ learning experience.

Departmental Grand Rounds, weekly didactics, ward rounds, resident workshops, and clinical conferences supplement our clinical training. Residents attend one-half-day per week of lectures throughout the residency. This time is protected; residents are excused from clinical duties in order to attend lectures. 

 Our didactic curriculum spans all four years of training beginning with the basics of psychiatric care introduced in Intern Boot Camp during the first two months of training and culminating in a scholarly activity project. Our topics and lectures are reviewed yearly by the Curriculum Committee, which utilizes a combination of ACGME competencies, evaluations, and annual in-service PRITE review to continually improve our Didactic Curriculum. All areas of psychiatry from neurobiology to psychotherapy are taught in an interactive format in our small class sizes. Didactics have continued despite the COVID pandemic by utilizing the BlueJeans computer platform. The listing below introduces you to the topics covered in our curriculum that provide our residents the essential knowledge necessary to become a competent psychiatrist.