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THE CORE TRAINING EXPERIENCE
PGY I
PGY II
PGY III
PGY IV
Seminars/ Didactics
Didactic Structure and Values
The core educational experience is comprised of three coordinated
activities: (1) clinical experience, (2) the didactic curriculum,
and (3) supervision. These are described by training year in greater
detail.
POSTGRADUATE YEAR I -
The First Year of Residency
The first year of the four-year training program consists of a
categorical psychiatry internship (PGY1 residency) at Cambridge
Health Alliance. Eight Intern positions are available. These Interns
work closely with eight Primary Care medicine interns and seven
Transitional Year Interns. The Department of Psychiatry is responsible
for curriculum, oversight, and support for the psychiatry Interns.
Since a number of the rotations take place within the Department
of Medicine, the Adult Residency Training program directors collaborate
closely with the Internal Medicine and Transitional Year program
directors to design and implement a well-integrated experience.
Cambridge Health Alliance is also home to a Family Practice Residency
affiliated with Tufts Medical School, providing opportunities for
psychiatry trainees to work in consultation with the community family
practice program.
Interns start orientation week with a team building day followed
by ACLS and other preparatory sessions before starting clinical
duties. Sessions on resident health and safety, work hours, sleep,
and well being set a tone for the residents from all departments
who share in the care of Cambridge Health Alliance patients. Psychiatry
residents are fully integrated with primary care, family practice,
transitional and podiatric interns in the first year of training.
During the PGY1, the Intern develops his/her identity as a physician
and gains familiarity with Cambridge Health Alliance and the communities
it serves. Interns are given considerable responsibility for patient
care to foster competence in general medicine. Interns rotate on
the general medical teaching service, with a newly protected four
hour didactic block on Tuesday afternoons. This creative didactic
seminar helps prepare interns for step three of the USMLE.
Half of the internship year focuses on primary care in a community
hospital setting. Rotations include medical wards, the ICU, ambulatory
care, and/or Pediatrics. The remainder is devoted to psychiatric
rotations. These include one month each of general neurology, behavioral
neurology, addictions medicine, child psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry,
and rehabilitation community psychiatry. In child psychiatry, Interns
work alongside a child fellow on an inpatient unit and have the
opportunity to serve in a variety of roles. In their geriatric rotation,
Interns work at our Geriatric Specialty Unit with two psychiatrists
in an inpatient setting and with our multidisciplinary geriatric
team making rounds in nursing homes and private residences. In neurology
rotations, Interns provide inpatient and outpatient assessment and
treatment under the supervision of attending neurologists and behavioral
neurologists. In their addiction rotation, PGY1 Interns consult
to medicine for acute detoxification, and observe and participate
in outpatient group therapy and residential treatment. Residents
contribute to the intensive care of chronically and severely mentally
ill patients on our Assertive Community Treatment team and see patients
in the Transition program designed to hold patients recently discharged
from inpatient care for acute stabilization. Interns work with senior
residents and faculty to care for psychotic patients living in the
community who access shelters and drop in centers.
Each PGY-1 psychiatry resident has a two-week and a four-week block
of elective time. Residents design a learning experience with the
Training Directors that range from academic projects, clinical experiences
locally or at other institutions or community agencies. Residents
have created exciting opportunities to work on issues of international
mental health, community advocacy programs, academic research, scientific
writing, and intensive clinical rotations in areas of interest.
In the second half of the PGY-1 year, residents in psychiatry begin
"buddy call" for the Psychiatric Emergency Service. This
allows for the learning of basic emergency psychiatry skills for
after hours care in an extremely busy psychiatric emergency service.
PGY-2 and 3 residents work side by side with the PGY-1's teaching
and monitoring the work to prepare residents to begin solo call
at the beginning of the PGY-2 year.
As a transition to PGY2, Interns begin didactic seminars on Wednesdays
from April through June that provide an introduction to the topics
below:
PGY1 Didactic Curriculum/ Seminar Faculty
Introduction to Psychiatry: Stuart Beck, MD
Introduction to Emergency Psychiatry: Suzanne Bird, MD
Intro to Psychopharmacology: Matthew Ruble, MD
Intro to Addiction Psychiatry: Jan Kaufman, MPH
Ethical Interactions with the Pharmaceutical Industry: Matthew
Ruble, MD
Meet the Experts:
- Trauma & Recovery , Judith Herman, MD
- Culture in Psychiatry, Margarita Alegria, PhD
Resident as Teacher, Matthew Ruble, MD
Talking to Patients: Alfred Margulies, MD
EBM/Medical Library Introduction: Jenny Lee-Olsen, Medical Library
Staff
Professional Identity Development: Transitioning from Physician
to Physician/Psychiatrist: Marshall Forstein, MD
Psychodynamic Formulation: "What lies beneath…": Robert
Levin, MD and Marshall Forstein, MD
Preparation Seminar for the PGY-2 year: Elisa Cheng, MD (PGY-5)
, Dan Reilly, MD, (PGY-4 Chief Inpatient Resident), Suzanne Bird,
Stuart Beck, MD.

POSTGRADUATE YEAR II -
The Second Year of Residency
PGY2 training includes six months of clinical experience caring
for psychiatric inpatients, three months working in partial hospitalization,
six weeks working in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and six weeks
in the Psychiatric Emergency Service. PGY2 Residents also begin
their work in long-term outpatient psychotherapy. Didactics support
and complement the clinical curriculum.
Individual psychotherapy supervision begins at the start
of the PGY-2 year and residents meet with the director of outpatient
services as a group to learn about the transition from intensive
services to outpatient care, including how to use the electronic
medical record to insure the highest quality of integrated medical
care for psychiatric patients seen elsewhere in the Cambridge Health
Alliance. Residents also get an introduction in this forum to managed
mental health care and the interface with public sector funding.
The Chief Resident meets regularly with PGY-2 residents to oversee
the administrative aspects of outpatient care.
The psychiatric inpatient experience includes a six-month
rotation, with three months on an inpatient unit at the Cambridge
campus, and three months at the Whidden Hospital. Here, Residents
develop basic skills in interviewing, evaluating, and treating patients
with a range of diagnostic and therapeutic problems. On the inpatient
units, the Resident works in collaboration with a multidisciplinary
team under the supervision of an attending psychiatrist. At the
Cambridge campus the team also includes Harvard Medical students
and trainees in other mental health professions. In addition to
carrying their own patients, each Resident is responsible for the
medical student assigned to the team, beginning a three year experience
in learning how to supervise and teach. During the inpatient rotations,
Residents present cases attended by faculty, staff, and trainees
of all disciplines. A rotation based didactic seminar provides an
academic component to the clinical training in intensive services.
Forensic cases at the Whidden Campus are supervised by the Medical
Director who is a forensic psychiatrist.
Three months are spent working in the ACS (Ambulatory Care Service)
that is dedicated to the most severely impaired patients with
psychosis, mood disorders and psychosocial dysfunction. Residents
work with attendings to assess and treat patients with a range of
psychopharmacologic and behavior treatments. PGY-2 residents can
choose to pick up to two patients with chronic psychosis or bipolar
disorder as part of their continuity care for the PGY-3 and 4 year
as well. Residents co-lead groups, assess medical risk factors and
monitor patients with co-morbid medical problems including obesity,
diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease.
Supervision occurs with attendings, an experienced psychiatric
nurse clinician, and social workers. Residents visit patients in
supervised living situations, consult to drop in centers and other
community based agencies for people with chronic mental illness.
Pgy-2 residents work with PGY-1 residents on their Community rotation
during this time as well. There is an opportunity for residents
to also develop relationships with Health Care for the Homeless
to provide a conduit for patients in need of mental health services.
The Consultation-Liaison experience is a six-week full-time
rotation on the inpatient consultation psychiatry service. This
rotation teaches Residents the fundamentals of psychiatric consultation
in a primary care hospital setting. Residents learn to work as a
consultant to medical/surgical staff to evaluate psychiatric symptoms
in medically ill patients and to offer appropriate psychotherapeutic
and psychopharmacologic interventions.
The Emergency experience is a six-week rotation at The Cambridge
Hospital Psychiatric Emergency Service. With over 5,000 visits per
year, this service is one of the busiest in Massachusetts. Here,
the PGY2 Resident focuses on rapid diagnostic and dispositional
assessments of adult and child patients with acute mental health
issues.
In addition to the inpatient rotations, the PGY2 Resident begins
treating four outpatients under the guidance of two faculty supervisors.
Residents have an opportunity to provide ongoing therapy with these
patients for the full duration of the residency.
During PGY2, Residents also begin after-hour coverage in psychiatry.
On-call hospital and emergency room coverage for nights and weekends
occurs on average once every eleven days. Residents begin their
teaching and supervision of other residents and medical students
in the Psychiatric Emergency Service. Residents have the option
of joining the moonlighting pool at the Cambridge Hospital Campus.
PGY2 Curriculum/ Seminar Faculty
Introduction to Psychotherapy: Cathy Schen, MD
Integrated Psychopathology, Diagnostic Formulation, and Psychopharmacology.
Matthew Ehrlich, MD, Catherine Fullerton, MD, Stuart Beck, MD and
Matthew Ruble, MD
Consultation-Liaison Seminar: Robert Joseph, MD; Chief Resident
Forensic Seminar: James Beck, MD
Emergency Psychiatry: Suzanne Bird, MD
Group Therapy Module: Stephanie Bukema, EdD
Rehabilitation Psychiatry: Raymond Flannery, PhD
Journal Club: Lior Givon, MD; Ed Trejo, MD
Annual Observed Clinical Exams and ABPN Certification Exams: The
Faculty
T-Group: Training group. Facilitated by Laurie Raymond, MD
POSTGRADUATE YEAR III -
The Third Year of Residency
The emphasis in PGY3 is on providing a broad experience in the
evaluation and treatment of adult outpatients. Other objectives
include developing skills in child and adolescent outpatient psychiatry,
working with adult and geriatric patients with both addictions and
psychiatric diagnoses, and learning to provide outpatient consultation
to primary care physicians.
The primary PGY3 rotations take place in the psychiatric outpatient
department. Residents continue the supervised outpatient treatment
of four patients from their PGY2.
Approximately fourteen clinical hours per week are designated for
working with additional adult outpatients, including individual
and group psychotherapy cases and psychopharmacology patients. Individual
clinical supervision is assigned for each therapeutic modality:
psychodynamic treatment, cognitive-behavioral treatment, short-term
treatment, group treatment, and psychopharmacology.
At ambulatory sites, the Resident is a member of a multidisciplinary
team. PGY3 Residents learn the skills and value of teamwork while
treating patients who have limited resources and multiple psychosocial
problems. Residents may also choose to treat patients in one of
the linguistic clinics (Haitian, Latino, Portuguese, Asian). The
Outpatient Department also includes a Clinic for African Americans,
and provides services to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
communities. Residents may choose to do some of their PGY-3 outpatient
work in one or more of these services.
The outpatient experience has been reorganized to provide increased
structure, precepting and supervision of residents and other trainees.
Residents carry a defined number of psychotherapy cases. Preceptors
monitor caseloads to insure a broad spectrum of patients diagnostically,
culturally, and functionally.
Residents also work in the psychopharmacology clinics twice a week.
Each session includes evaluations and ongoing medication management,
and is closely supervised by both an attending psychiatrist and
a Clinical Nurse Specialist. Each psychopharmacology clinic ends
with an overall discussion about patients with attention to specific
learning objectives for the residents.
Each PGY-3 resident and each of eight psychology interns work together
as part of the Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Research Clinic. Trainees
each see two patients twice a week for dynamic psychotherapy as
part of a research clinic that includes systematic assessment and
evaluation at the beginning, middle and end of treatment. This clinic
includes a year long seminar in assessment, diagnostic formulation
and psychodynamic theory. Psychotherapy sessions are audiotaped
and utilized in supervision.
In addition to the psychiatric ambulatory rotation, PGY3 Residents
participate in a six-month outpatient consultation psychiatry rotation.
This allows Residents to further develop consultative skills. In
keeping with the trend towards a primary care approach, Residents
work as psychiatric consultants in the hospital's outpatient medical
clinics.
Opportunities exist to provide psychiatric consultation to patients
in the multidisciplinary HIV clinic, the Psycho-oncology clinic
of the Dana Farber Cancer Center, and to palliative medicine.
During their Child and Adolescent rotation PGY3 Residents meet
weekly with a senior child psychiatrist to observe evaluations and
to discuss cases. Each Resident also treats two children under the
supervision of our faculty. They may also be involved in evaluating
parental function in adults referred by the Department of Social
Services.
Residents evaluate patients through our Outpatient Addiction Service
where they co-lead groups and provide psychopharmacologic treatment
to dual diagnosis patients. On-call hospital and emergency room
coverage for nighttime and weekends continues on average once every
two weeks.
Residents who choose to fast track into a Child and Adolescent
Fellowship will have met all ACGME requirements for the adult training
program before doing so.
PGY3 Curriculum/ Seminar Faculty
Human Development & Developmental Psychopathology: Nancy Rappaport,
MD
Psychotherapy Seminar:
- CBT ( Wayne Brunell, MD)
- Short Term Dynamic Therapy (Jim Harburger, MD)
- Long Term Dynamic Therapy ( Alan Siegel, EdD)
- Supportive psychotherapy (Marshall Forstein, MD)
Biological Therapies and Neuroscience: Lior Givon, MD
Evidence Based Medicine/Research: Steve Leff, PhD
Psychopharmacology: Matthew Ruble, MD
Journal Club: Lior Givon, MD
Geriatrics: Steve Pinals, MD
History of Psychiatry: Marla Eby, PhD
Writing Seminar: Malkah Notman, MD
Psychology and Neuropsychological Testing: Marla Eby, PhD
Sexuality and Psychiatry: Marshall Forstein, MD and Malkah Notman,
MD
Spirituality and Psychotherapy: John Chirban, PhD
Annual Observed Clinical Exams and ABPN Certification Exams: The
Faculty
POSTGRADUATE YEAR IV -
The Fourth Year of Residency
In the PGY4, Residents pursue individual interests and develop
further professional competence through teaching, clinical work,
administration, or research. They also continue with fifteen hours
per week of outpatient work. In addition, Residents treat a couple
or family under the supervision of staff from our Couples and Family
Clinic.
PGY4 Residents may choose a chief residency position within the
Department of Psychiatry. We have several positions, including one
with the Department of Mental Health that offers an advanced Resident
a unique opportunity to teach, supervise, and gain administrative
experience as a clinician working between state and local mental
health systems with patients who have severe and persistent mental
illness. Other chief residencies include positions in the intensive
services, the outpatient services, the consultation-liaison service,
the emergency service, the psychopharmacology service, and the addictions
service. As a chief resident, a PGY4 exercises leadership, and deepens
his or her intellectual and clinical skills in a specialized treatment
setting. Learning how to teach medical students and residents, and
how to supervise are expectations of the chief residency.
Some Residents have used the flexibility in the fourth year to
work in elective settings or to pursue special interests that have
developed during the first three years of residency. Residents have
worked at the university health services at MIT, Tufts, or Harvard,
begun a Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, pursued academic
and clinical experience in advanced training programs within the
Alliance, or participated in research. Advanced training programs
are offered in Behavioral Medicine, the Victims of Violence Program,
the Couples and Family Clinic, and the Program for Psychotherapy.
Residents have opportunities to take courses in any of the Harvard
Graduate programs: School of Education, School of Public Health,
Business School, Law School, and/or Kennedy School of Government.
Clinical and administrative supervision is an important role of
any faculty member, and yet little is traditionally done in residency
training to prepare graduates for this essential role. To address
this deficit in residency training, we have implemented supervision
training as Part of the PGY-4 experience. During the summer, PGY-4
residents meet to read and discuss the process of becoming a supervisor
for preparation for an academic career. Meeting weekly for 6 weeks
in the summer, and then monthly during the first half of the year,
each PGY-4 will supervise a medical student, junior resident, or
other mental health trainee who agrees to have their supervision
audiotaped and discussed in the seminar.
PGY4 Didactic Curriculum
Psychotherapy/ Theory: Jack Beinashowitz, PhD
Psychotherapy Cases: Alfred Margulies, MD
Supervision Seminar; Marshall Forstein, MD
Neurobiology and Neuropsychiatry: Lior Givon, MD
Advanced Biologic Therapies and Neuroscience: Bruce Price, MD;
Matt Ruble, MD; Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH
Transition to Practice: Donna Moores, MD
Advanced CBT Seminar and Supervision: Peter McEntee, PhD
Advanced Couples and Family Therapy Seminar and Supervision: Danielle
Greene, MSW, Suzanne McCarthy, PsyD
History of Psychiatry - Case Studies: Bennett Simon, MD
Ethics in Psychiatry: J. Wesley Boyd, MD, PhD
Psychiatry and Neurology Boards Review: Marshall Forstein, MD,
and faculty
Annual Observed Clinical Exams and ABPN Certification Exams: The
Faculty

DIDACTIC THEMATIC STRUCTURE AND VALUES
The bio-psycho-social-cultural model of mental illness provides
the framework for the entire educational experience. The principles
and application of evidence-based medicine are incorporated throughout
the didactic and rotation based seminars.
Psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, neurobiology/ neuropsychiatry,
and Evidence Based Medicine and Critical Thinking are major themes
throughout the four years of didactics and clinical rotations. All
seminars are intended to supplement the clinical training with theory
and the research findings to support the best clinical outcomes
possible. Some examples of these seminars follow:
A summer seminar, "Cross Cultural Issues in Psychiatry"
is jointly taught by residents and faculty. The seminar is required
of PGY-2 residents and Psychology Interns. In this 8 week didactic/experiential
seminar, trainees explore the impact of culture, class, sexual orientation,
ethnicity and race on psychiatric disorders and their treatment.
The seminar brings together a multidisciplinary group of diverse
trainees for mutual learning and focuses on the specific issues
reflected in the multicultural populations of Cambridge Health Alliance.
In the PGY2, the Psychopathology, Diagnostic Formulation, and psychopharmacology
seminar begins with descriptive modules based on DSM diagnostic
categories. A two hour seminar, the faculty team teachers coordinate
the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders with the pharmacologic and
psychotherapeutic treatment of those disorders. Lecturers present
an overview of epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, hypotheses regarding
etiology, course/prognosis, and treatment. This descriptive material
is interspersed with lectures on various biological and psychological
concepts regarding mental disorders, with an emphasis on the role
of culture, class and social structures on formulation. Residents
prepare and present to their peers and get feedback about the academic
work as well as the teaching style and preparation.
A comprehensive seminar on rehabilitation issues for people with
chronic and persistent mental illness introduces the residents to
the possibilities of enhancing strengths and resiliency to improve
the lives of patients.
In the PGY3 year, Residents are introduced to the paradigms that
we have used in psychiatry to understand human development and function.
The Normal and Abnormal Child and Adolescent Development seminar
will provide a basic foundation for understanding the roots of childhood,
adolescent, and adult behavior and psychopathology. The course is
directed by a child psychiatrist who invites experts in the field
of separation attachment, moral development, adolescent sexuality,
childhood psychopathology and other critical issues in child development
to enhance the seminar and showcase leaders in the field. Seminars
deepen the experience of psychotherapy, and broaden the basic science
knowledge in neurobiology and biological therapies.
In the PGY4 year, seminars continue to enhance knowledge and practice
in the areas of psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and neuropsychiatry.
Residents may choose to pursue and deepen their knowledge in a specific
area by enrolling in specialized seminars. A large number of elective
seminars are open to trainees and staff at Cambridge Health Alliance.
Residents may choose to acquire expertise in a specific area by
becoming advanced trainees in specialized programs within our system,
which offer didactics, supervision, and clinical experience. Examples
of such programs are the Victims of Violence Program in which many
kinds of trauma are treated and researched; the Program for Psychotherapy,
in which residents treat patients with intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy.
The focus of the fourth year is integration of the biological,
psychological and social aspects of mental illness into a comprehensive
view of a person within the context of his/ her biology/ family
and community.
BIOLOGIC THERAPIES AND NEUROSCIENCE
This four-year sequence is designed to establish a solid base of
knowledge in the areas of biologic therapy and neuroscience. In
the PGY1, Interns learn about the principles of psychopharmacology.
In the PGY2 seminar, instruction is organized around the major classes
of psychotropic medications. Other topics include drug interactions,
toxicities, ECT, the use of medication in special patient populations,
and psychodynamic issues in the practice of psychopharmacology.
The PGY3 seminar focuses on medication management in the outpatient
population. The major classes of medications are discussed with
an emphasis on the literature supporting their use. The mechanism
of action of these drugs is reviewed and the neurobiology of major
psychiatric disorders presented. In an ongoing Journal Club, Residents
read relevant articles and learn to critically assess their value.
The PGY4 seminar features invited speakers who are recognized experts
in particular areas of biological psychiatry, psychopharmacology,
and behavioral neurology.
The neurobiology and neuropsychiatry seminars provide a basic anatomical
and neurobiological framework on which to place the clinical neuropsychiatric
syndromes encountered by the residents in patients with complex
medical and psychiatric disorders. Opportunities exist for residents
with particular interests in neuropsychiatric disorders like Parkinson's
Disease, Huntington's Chorea, and HIV dementia to obtain clinical
experience in these areas.
At the end of the year, the department sponsors a "brain cutting"
session for an afternoon with a psychiatrist and neuro-anatomist
to bring together clinical syndromes with anatomical dissection
and discussion. Residents bring clinical experience and basic science
knowledge together to consider how brain function and mind function
get integrated.
A new summer seminar for PGY-2 through PGY-4 is taught by Lior
Givon, MD and Christopher Bullock, MD, entitled: "Neurobiology
and Psychotherapy: Desire, Aversion, and Mirroring in the Drama
of Self and Other".
PSYCHOTHERAPY SEMINAR
Psychotherapy is taught over the course of three years as a series
of seminars that focus on clinical work at each stage of training.
In the PGY2, when Residents are primarily on inpatient units in
an acute care setting, the focus of the seminar is on crisis management,
alliance formation, and underlying dynamic processes in the patient-therapist
relationship. In the first month of the seminar, the discussion
centers on meeting and beginning therapy with outpatients. Subsequently,
Residents are asked to present transcribed material from inpatient
cases or from their outpatient psychotherapy sessions. Adjunctive
readings are assigned. The case-based format encourages Residents
to learn experientially about basic concepts of psychotherapy, such
as transference, countertransference, resistance, and interpretation.
The PGY3 psychotherapy seminar introduces Residents to a variety
of therapeutic modalities while they are working on multidisciplinary
outpatient treatment teams. Residents learn about cognitive behavioral
therapy, supportive, and short-term therapy. They continue to deepen
their understanding of dynamic psychotherapy with guided reading
and case-based discussions. The two PGY4 psychotherapy seminars
are advanced courses that introduce contemporary theoretical perspectives
and techniques. An integrative approach is emphasized in topics
such as process and outcome research, models of brain/mind, and
the interaction between psychopharmacology and psychodynamics. Case-based
discussions with senior staff help the Residents gain insight into
their own therapeutic style.
Over the span of three years, the Resident emerges with a solid
foundation in psychotherapy practice and theory as preparation for
the further study of psychotherapy or for a career as a general
psychiatrist.
EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE/ RESEARCH SEMINAR
Evidence based medicine, journal club and research seminars are
threaded throughout each of the 4 years of training. During the
PGY1 year, residents learn research skill building and practice
the use of library resources, which include not only the Cambridge
Health Alliance library but direct access to the Harvard Medical
School Countway Library and Electronic Journal system. In the second
year, residents work through individually the basics of Evidence-Based
psychiatry, identifying areas for further study through the critical
reading of published research articles in the Journal Club. Residents
are encouraged to find mentors in the areas of interest to begin
thinking about the scholarly project that is required by the end
of the program.
In the PGY3 year, residents will learn about research design and
review important methodological and statistical concepts. Each resident
will pursue a clinical question and create a research protocol.
In the research seminar, residents are also encouraged to develop
and present on topics of their own choice. Residents will determine
how to conduct the research and what its impact might be, and in
the PGY4 year a subset of residents will elect to implement their
research protocols. While not all residents will choose to pursue
clinical research in the fourth year, or afterwards, every resident
will develop the skills required to be critical evaluators of research
in order to bring the highest quality of care to their patients,
and to develop the skills necessary for lifelong learning.
As part of the PGY-4 experience, residents are required to engage
in a Scholarly Project. Projects have included: Review articles,
pilot research studies, case reports, development of teaching materials
and curriculum, presentations at national meetings, a literature
review, participation in an ongoing research project, a teaching
experience with written assessment and critique, amongst many others.
GROUP THERAPY MODULE / TRAINING GROUP
At the beginning of the PGY2, Residents are introduced to concepts
of group therapy in a didactic module that precedes the beginning
of their own group experience. PGY2 Residents are required to participate
in a weekly training group led by an experienced group therapist.
This module and personal exposure to group dynamics prepares them
to lead psychotherapy groups for patients. At the end of the PGY-2
year, the residents make a group decision about whether to continue
their training group for the PGY-3 year.
SPECIAL SEMINARS
A series of shorter seminars that compliment specific clinical
rotations or stages of training are offered throughout the residency.
These seminars include cross-cultural psychiatry, ethical principles
in the practice of psychiatry, sexuality and psychiatry, and psychosocial
rehabilitation. Residents also learn about the history of psychiatry
and have an opportunity to think about the role of spirituality
in the treatment of patients with psychiatric disorders. Throughout
the four years of the program a considerable emphasis is given to
learning how to interview patients from various points of views
and schools of thought. An ongoing discussion throughout the academic
year starts with a Summer Grand Rounds Series on Gender and Sexuality
that is open to all trainees and faculty.
Several times a year, residents from the four adult and three child
Harvard Medical School training programs meet for special educational
events. Each year in November, at All Harvard Day, one of
the programs has responsibility for organizing a full day of didactics
on some area of importance to the field of psychiatry. In the past,
topics have included: sexuality, ethics, spirituality, evidence
based practices, current research, psychotherapies.
Another "All-Harvard Day" is Medical Education Day,
where residents and faculty present posters pertaining to innovations,
or research in training and education in medicine.
In March, the Mysell Research Day brings the departments
and training programs together for a lecture of significance and
the presentation of awards to residents and fellows for poster presentations
of research done by trainees from the four Harvard psychiatry training
programs. This provides an opportunity for Cambridge Health Alliance
residents to present their work and continue building professional
relationships with peers and faculty from the Harvard Departments
of Psychiatry.

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