Syllabus   An Introduction to the Psychiatry Clerkship Welcome to the six-week clinical clerkship in psychiatry!We are happy to have you with us and we will work hard to make your time with us enjoyable and educational. I. Clerkship Goals We have both general and specific goals we hope to achieve. First and foremost we hope to demystify craziness and other kinds of psychiatric illnesses and to make them less frightening. We hope to show that there are rational ways of organizing your impressions of crazy people and medical/scientific ways of formulating a differential diagnosis and prescribing treatment. Above all we hope to demonstrate that the vast majority of psychiatric illnesses can be treated or controlled. More specifically we expect students who have successfully completed the clerkship to be able to: a. conduct a psychiatric evaluation with mental status examination b. formulate a broad differential diagnosis from a solid understanding of the main categories of psychopathology c. plan treatment and management based on the best presumptive diagnosis d. be familiar with the main classes of psychiatric drugs, know the generic names of representative drugs, typical dosing schedules, side effects, toxicities, drug interactions, indications and contraindications e. recognize medical conditions presenting with psychiatric symptoms or which may exacerbate a coexisting psychiatric disorder f. know the signs and symptoms associated with intoxication and withdrawal states of major drugs of abuse and manage detoxification from alcohol/sedative-hypnotics and from narcotics g. conduct an emergency psychiatric evaluation and be familiar with the management of common psychiatric emergencies We will present principles of different psychotherapies to you, but we will not teach you how to do psychotherapy. Fourth year electives are available for those who wish more training and education in this area. II. Clerkship Requirements A. Written Case Reports A minimum of two formal, written inpatient case reports, following the outline included in this syllabus are required during the clerkship. They will be read and evaluated by the preceptor/supervisors on the unit to which you're assigned In addition one short paper will be written for the emergency room. This will be read and critiqued by the clerkship course director. B. Conference Series Conferences for students assigned to inpatient units at Bellevue, VA Hospital and Tisch Hospital will be on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. A detailed list of conferences will be provided. C. Attire Clean white coats and name-tags are required at all times on all clinical services.Please respect this requirement, even if the attendings on your unit do not wear white coats. D. Attendance Attendance is mandatory at all clinical activities and teaching conferences.If you must miss a scheduled activity due to circumstances beyond your control, please notify the person responsible for that activity and also the clerkship director. All clinical absences must be made up. E. Evaluations Evaluations in the psychiatry clerkship will be by means of the strandard evaluation form used across all clerkships. A copy of that form is included with this material.The evaluation will be weighted as follows: Inpatient 75% Off-Ward: 20% Quiz: 5% The final written examination is a National Board subject exam in clinical psychiatry and is given at 8 a.m. on the last Friday of your rotation in Alumni A.The final exam is graded pass-fail. A on the final is a score of 65 or higher. It is necessary to receive a passing grade from both the clinical services and on the final written examination in order to receive a passing grade for the clerkship.Students who score below this level will receive a "fail" marking for the clerkship and will be required to take and pass a make-up exam at a future date. A short quiz covering topics in psychopharmacology will be given during the fifth week of the clerkship.The score on this quiz will be factored into the “knowledge” portion of the evaluation form. Students who receive an unsatisfactory grade from the clinical services will receive an "Unsatisfactory" for the clerk-ship as a whole and will be required to do remedial clinical work.