The first year consists of six months of general medical training and six months of psychiatry. All interns spend July on-service at the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital and the remainder of the year is divided into 4 week blocks that include both the psychiatry and off-service requirements.
The medical training occurs at Vanderbilt University Hospital, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and the Nashville VA - sites all located within walking distance of each other and the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital. General medical training consists of three months of internal medicine, or pediatrics. One month is spent in emergency medicine and two months in neurology (one month each in outpatient and inpatient).
While on-service, the focus is on an introduction to psychiatry and the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric illnesses. Clinical rotations include the various units of VPH - general adult, addictions, dual diagnosis, and child and adolescent. Generally, all inpatient rotations are team based, allowing for direct teaching and supervision between interns and upper-levels.
Call Schedule:
PGY1s take psychiatry call at VPH from 5-9pm on weekdays and 9 am - 9 pm on weekends. All interns are directly supervised by either a PGY3 or PGY4. On average, interns take 3 weekday calls and 1 weekend call a month. Interns are not expected to round on their patients over the weekends.
Didactics:
A carefully designed four-year didactic series begins during the PGY 1 year. One afternoon each week is protected for seminars that include an introduction to psychopharmacology, an introduction to psychopathology, and an introduction to psychodynamic psychotherapy. Seminar leaders reflect the rich research and clinical strengths of our diverse faculty. The seminar series is designed to integrate the basic science and theoretical foundations of psychiatry with clinical practice.